Author writes character with breast cancer, then receives same diagnosis
What began as fiction for author Caitlin Shetterly eventually became deeply personal.
While writing her second novel, "The Gulf of Lions," Shetterly created a main character named Alice, a woman living with breast cancer. But after spending a year researching the disease for the book, the Maine native said she was stunned to receive a similar diagnosis herself.
"It feels like the rug has been pulled right out from underneath you," Shetterly told "Good Morning America" in an interview that aired Thursday.
The diagnosis hit especially close to home, she said.
"I was diagnosed with the exact same cancer in the exact same breast as my character Alice," she said.
In "The Gulf of Lions," Alice has Stage 2A hormone-positive breast cancer. Shetterly said her own diagnosis was Stage 1B hormone-positive breast cancer.
The 51-year-old author said she spent an entire year researching the medical aspects of the disease while writing the novel.
"I had meticulously researched cancer, this kind of cancer, this woman's cancer ... I wrote this long before I had cancer, and boy was it right," she said.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer diagnoses among younger women have been rising in recent years, with some of the sharpest increases seen among Asian and Hispanic women.
"The Gulf of Lions" follows a mother recovering from breast cancer who takes her daughters on a transformative camping trip across France.
Despite the difficult subject matter, Shetterly said she intentionally wanted to tell a hopeful story.
"I wrote a book about a woman who doesn't just survive cancer, but she thrives after it, and that was really important to me," she said.
Shetterly said the character she created unexpectedly became a source of comfort during her own cancer journey.
"I wrote this character, but as soon as this happened to me, she became a best friend who had gone through this very similar thing, and that was very profound and meaningful to me," she said.
Shetterly said she also grew tired of reading books where mothers were either dead or dying and wanted to tell a different kind of story for her two sons.
She said the fictional character she created ultimately helped shape her real-life perspective.
"I remember thinking that if Alice can pack up her daughters and go to France and travel alone, then, my gosh, I can do this too," she said.
She added, "I had to love my life, and if nothing teaches you that any better than anything else, it's cancer."
