Cathy Nilon

Chemo Cat
When author/illustrator Cathy Nilon was 43 and diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, she couldn't comprehend how to explain to 4- year-old son Luca what Mommy was going to go through. She couldn't find any programs for his age group and her family had no mental health coverage to help cope with the trauma.
Luca and Mama cat, aka Cat-Cat; take you through their emotions and realities of that most difficult time (personified as a family of cats). It is meant to open a dialog with children, without scaring them. It explains to them the changes they can expect when Mama loses her hair and is sick from chemotherapy. The story is all too common and timeless.
Her extraordinary artistic talent is evident in each watercolor/pencil & ink illustration that moves the story along from her son’s point of view. The child’s emotions at her devastating diagnosis of breast cancer and through the long healing process are further expressed in soothing poetic verse that offers hope to children.

"Nilon, now 46 and a breast cancer survivor, has created Chemo Cat
($9.95, Ravenna Press), a heart-wrenching, but ultimately uplifting
story of her family's cancer journey, told in the voice of her son.
Luca and Mama cat, a k a Cat-Cat, are a family of cats who take you
through their thoughts and emotions - the highs and the deepest lows of that difficult period. Chemo Cat is poignant for the mere fact that
it's so real. When you see cancer's ravages through the eyes of the
young - who have to figure out why Mama's hair has fallen out and why she throws up all the time and why she can't play with him like she
used to - it becomes all the more unfathomable. Says Luca in the book:
"I was saddest by far and sometimes would shout; or just sit on my
floor and cry my eyes out. I was tired of kids who had healthier moms
. . ."

Almost as compelling as the story and gorgeous illustrations is the
foreword, where Nilon gives thanks to the supportive sisterhood she
found through her cancer experience. Read it and you really understand why we call them 'survivors.' "

-South Florida- Sun Sentinel by Kavita Varma-White