I was 40 years old, living an ordinary, everyday life: I was fulfilled professionally, pursuing postgraduate studies, and spending time with my family.
And then, suddenly and completely unexpectedly, it appeared: stomach cancer. The tumor showed no symptoms—it was discovered by chance during routine tests related to pernicious anemia, diagnosed many years earlier.
In April 2022, I received my diagnosis, and a week later, I was informed that a total gastrectomy was necessary. I would have to live entirely without a stomach, with my esophagus connected directly to my intestines.
The surgery I underwent in July 2022 was preceded and followed by a cycle of chemotherapy (in the so-called FLOT regimen). I was one of the youngest patients receiving this treatment.
The entire process of my treatment, from the day of diagnosis through the surgery to the last chemotherapy, lasted 6.5 months. Healing my mind and sorting through the contents of my head took me a year.
The illness pushed me to my limits; it forced me to confront the internal demons and fears that had taken root in me over the years. This unwanted journey that fate thrust upon me turned my life, priorities, and beliefs upside down. This unwanted journey… healed me.
“There Is No Tomorrow. How Stomach Cancer Saved My Life” is my personal story about how a terminal illness can heal the spirit.
I hadn’t planned to create or publish this book. A few hours after receiving my diagnosis, I started writing: I described everything that filled my everyday life: loose reflections, random encounters, unexpected insights. I wanted to create a personal diary of my illness that would one day, after years, allow me to revisit those moments, once I was fully healthy. And I never wanted to forget everything that this experience taught me.
I did it for myself and without any plan for publication. It was the strangers who encouraged me to compile it all into a book. Upon hearing about my illness and the changes it had made in my beliefs, they responded with dozens of messages and comments, urging me to keep writing. So, I described a year of my life and the revolution that cancer brought to my existence.
One of the first people to read the book told me that, in theory, it is a book about illness—but in reality, it is a book about life. I hope you will want to see for yourself.
Anita Wojtaś-Jakubowska
“There Is No Tomorrow. How Stomach Cancer Saved My Life” is a personal story about how a terminal illness can heal the spirit.