Traveling Daisy: A Generational Cancer Story of Disease and Dysfunction

I’m Lisa Marie Wilson and I’m a writer, comedian, and cancer survivor. In my book, “Traveling Daisy: A Generational Cancer Story of Disease and Dysfunction,” I look deep into my life that started in a trailer park, and I ask the question, “Did my dysfunctional life cause my cancer?”

I offer tons of tips and advice on how to deal with your own cancer or someone else’s cancer, as I’m the fifth generation of my family to be diagnosed with the disease. My great-great grandma Carrie, her son George, his daughter Jan, her daughter Kathy, and her daughter Lisa (me) all shared this journey called cancer. It’s a journey through which I’ve learned about what to do, and what not to do, when dealing with disease. It’s my destiny to help others deal with the difficulties of cancer and to show how to battle it head-on.

This book details how I dealt with both terminal and treatable cancer diagnoses, as I took care of my grandmother when she survived cancer and then my mother while she died from cancer. I am completely honest about my life and struggles, all with a smile and a hearty laugh. I believe that to get through the cancer times in life, that laughter is better than a Xanax.

It scares me that I have a daughter whose direct lineage of disease includes Ocular Melanoma, Carcinoid Tumors, Thyroid, Breast and Colon Cancers. So I’ve gathered tips on how to avoid cancer, if possible. I decided to write this book when my mom died, to share her story and one year later, I was shocked when I was told that I personally share her legacy.

I knew of my mom’s past and what had made her the person that she was. I decided to examine my past as well, in an attempt to answer the new-age question, “Did I cause my cancer?” I looked deep inside my experiences, my decisions, and myself and I’m pretty sure I have a good answer to that. I invite you to look through my past (and yours) and answer that for yourself. Let me welcome you to my life of disease and dysfunction. Right this way…