Book excerpt: Pretty girls don't get cancer is a testimony of the power of a strong community, a grain of faith, and personal resiliency during a cancer diagnosis and healing process. In this memoir, M. Patricia Diaz reconnects with the phase of her life when as a teen she came close to death. This true story of generosity, forgiveness and growth is depicted with broad brushstrokes of Latin American cultural colors. Beyond cancer, this was a transformational expedition into the ego - one that touched the lives of many people. It was a journey the author walked alongside her family and friends. Healing physically, against all medical predictions, turned out to be only one part of the story - one that taught her life and spiritual lessons she was not chronologically ready to digest. The most important lessons were anchored in the past, reachable only through focused determination to heal - body, mind, and spirit.