Nana’s Girl
is inspired by my Nana whom I lost to breast cancer when I was eleven. I
still miss her very much. When I was young, she had a caricature of me
drawn by a local artist. It says Nana’s Girl on it.
That’s me. I still have the last cards and letters she wrote me. I have
the huge teddy bear that she bought me years ago at Filene’s, and the
original caricature she had made for me near Fanueil Hall. I wear one of
her rings and I carry the little blue-haired Flatsy doll that she
bought me at Woolworths in my purse. She’s my little mascot.Nana’s Girl is for all who have lost someone, especially those who have lost someone to breast cancer. All profits from Nana’s Girl will be donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (bcrfcure.org) in loving memory of Katherine Mahan.
Excerpt from Nana’s Girl:
…Samantha O’Connor knows life can be short. She’s known that since she was eleven. That’s when she lost her beloved Nana to breast cancer. And as a nurse in Denver General’s busy emergency department, she sees people get a wake up call every day. She gets her own wake up call when she has a horrible accident and ends up in the ER on Halloween dressed as Goldilocks. While recovering at her parents, she finds an old box of things from her Nana. It has her huge old teddy bear, a charm bracelet, her blue haired Flatsy doll, and a black patent leather purse in it. She also finds an old letter from Nana written just before she died, and a caricature of herself as “Nana’s Girl”. This reminds Sam of who she really is. Using that as her motivation, she decides to begin anew and creates a To Do List for her life…
