Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir

A searing young adult collective essay and poetry memoir about Walela Nehanda, a Black cancer patient who faces medical racism after being diagnosed with leukemia in their early twenties.

“Infuses queer Black disabled resilience and wretchedness into a poetic sinew that stretches, tears, and heals again and again.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A haunting and powerful read.”—Alice Wong, Founder and Director of Disability Visibility Project

When Walela is diagnosed at twenty-three with advanced-stage blood cancer, they’re suddenly thrust into the unsympathetic world of tubes and pills, doctors who don’t use their correct pronouns, and hordes of “well-meaning” but patronizing people offering unsolicited advice as Walela navigates rocky personal relationships and shares their story online.

But this experience also deepens their relationship to their ancestors, providing added support from another realm. Walela’s diagnosis becomes a catalyst for their self-realization. As they fill out forms at the insurance office in downtown Los Angeles or travel to therapy in wealthier neighborhoods, they begin to understand that cancer is where all forms of their oppressed identities intersect: Disabled. Fat. Black. Queer. Nonbinary.

In Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir, the author details a galvanizing account of their survival despite the U.S. medical system, and of the struggle to face death unafraid.