KIMIKO DOES CANCER

A queer, mixed-race woman chronicles her experience with breast cancer.

In her first book, human rights lawyer Tobimatsu teams up with Filipina Canadian illustrator and comic artist Geniza, and it’s clear that the two Toronto natives share a common spirit. Refreshingly, neither the author nor the illustrator attempts to overdramatize the author’s cancer experience. But as they show, even successful treatment and apparent remission can leave lasting emotional and psychological scars. The narrative is chronological and conversational, taking readers through the author’s experiences, and the illustrations reinforce the feeling of matter-of-fact practicality, with subtle tension lying just underneath the surface. Tobimatsu felt distracted from her work and from many other once-important elements of her life. Her libido suffered, as did her relationship with her girlfriend, and she had sometimes-difficult interactions with her parents, doctors, and other cancer patients. Most of this material will strike a responsive chord with those who have dealt with cancer in some form or another, yet the author’s age at the time of diagnosis (25), her ethnicity, and her sexual orientation brought other issues into play. “The mainstream cancer narrative,” she writes, “was so white, feminized and apolitical; the peppiness appeared to gloss over the way cancer affected people differently based on age and class.” In the aftermath of her radiation treatment, she began experiencing hot flashes and other perimenopausal symptoms more common among women almost twice her age. Ultimately, she was able to cope, but that doesn’t mean everything is perfect. “Fears linger in the background and surface whenever my body feels off….But more than the fear, it’s the daily changes that I fear the most,” Tobimatsu writes in the epilogue. “Pre-cancer, some combination of personality and privilege allowed me to be easy-going, flexible, adaptable. That’s not possible anymore. Now I require so much more to feel comfortable.”

An engaging and inspirational account of dealing with illness and its perception.