Cancer patients seek wellness through writing

After nearly a year of avoidance, Patricia Griecci looked at the scars on her body and wrote about them. Cheryl Sisel no longer dwells on whether she will live to see her young grandchildren's college graduation. She focuses instead on the simple pleasure of the moment, like eating a cookie with them.

The Newton women were part of a memoir-writing class led by an Andover writing teacher. Work from the class was recently published in the book "All That Matters: Memoir From the Wellness Community of Greater Boston" (Paper Journey Press).

The book was a product of the first memoir course sponsored by the wellness group. Two more have been offered since.

All the courses have been led by Peggy Rambach, who has taught fiction writing at Emerson College and other schools for nearly two decades. She Rambach said she was impressed by how eager the cancer survivors were to write about their experiences and their willingness to confront difficult feelings. She cited Griecci's essay as an example.

"I told Patricia that if she was going to write about the scar on her body, she really needed to describe it, to show the reader what it looks like, because you're talking about how you've had to change your relationship to your body," Rambach said.

At a reception this month, seven of the nine contributors read from their essays, pieces that pushed them to explore emotions and tackle fears.

"It was a very useful writing experience for me to take a moment in time and realize how much that can convey," said Harriet Berman of Dover.

The six-week course was held at the Newton Upper Falls headquarters of the Wellness Community Greater Boston. The nonprofit serves cancer patients and their families, offering educational workshops, support groups, and nutrition and exercise programs.

Rambach was thrust into the medical world as a caregiver when her husband, the writer Andre Dubus, was struck by a car in 1986 while attempting to aid two stranded motorists. The accident left him in a wheelchair in chronic pain. Dubus died of a heart attack in February 1999 .

Rambach said her personal experience helps her work with people whose lives are transformed overnight by misfortune.

Christine Micklitsch, 57, of Newton enrolled in the memoir-writing class after seeing an advertisement.

Diagnosed with lymphoma in 1999, Micklitsch had a stem cell transplant the following year, multiple relapses, and now has myelodysplastic syndrome. "It's been a long process of trying to stay on top of things," she said.

Before her illness, Micklitsch had served for a decade as director of physician education for Fallon Community Health Plan. After the transplant, she returned to work but found that her position had been eliminated. She had to face not only a faltering body but a faltering career. At the time, her children were 11 and 16.

"Now I have a child in college and another out of school and working," she said. "I've made it this far, and that's a blessing."

For information on the Wellness Community Greater Boston, visit wellnesscommunity.org.