Powerhouse Patient

At the age of 48, Sigourney Cheek woke up one morning compelled to write a book. Never mind that she'd never written anything beyond very nice letters to friends. She was married, raising three children and co-managing a successful antiques business. Much of her free time for decades was spent as a volunteer extraordinaire throughout Nashville. Over the next 10 years, she wrote everything from short stories to personal essays. Then, in 2005, she was diagnosed with cancer.

Her new book Patient Siggy: Hope and Healing in Cyberspace chronicles her unusually vivid battle against cancer, but it is also a universal story about rediscovering what is most important in life and realizing the healing nature of meaningful human interaction -- friends. Thirteen of those friends are hosting a launch party for the book at Gallery One on Feb. 7 from 5 to 7 p.m.

It started when Sigourney began updating a group of close friends over e-mail. A small group of 18 grew to nearly 200. With each correspondence and subsequent response, she found herself sharing more. This group provided her with hope and healing -- and, amazingly, her story helped them face their own challenges. "With each sentence, the mystery behind my dilemma unraveled," she said. "I loved getting into the trenches of my illness, outlining my anxieties, chronicling my breakdowns and laying down my fears. I made a pact to stay positive."

Patient Siggy is available at local book stores and online at turnerpublishing.com and amazon.com.

–AMY THOMAS, Nfocus Magazine • February 2008