Book Description

POWERFUL & AND TRANSFORMATIVE. This book is for anyone facing a life-challenging event. A once-in-a-generation, powerhouse of a book, authored by national medalist and acclaimed public library director, Tonya Angelique Garcia. With the vulnerability and rawness that come with having a potentially terminal disease, Tonya shares the plan that transformed her life while battling breast cancer. With all the characteristics of a Type-A personality, it was no surprise that immediately after the diagnosis, her first words were, “I don’t have time for this.” Focused, driven, and time-conscious, cancer was something she arrogantly never thought too much of. It was certainly not in her five-year plan. Until the universe sat her down. Whether recently diagnosed or caring for a loved one with cancer, this book offers a chance to process the feelings that may be scaring the hell out of you. Feelings such as regret, guilt, humiliation, sadness, panic, and anger. Unfortunately, like most challenges, the only way to GET through them is to GO through them. With a unique ability to entwine accountability and vulnerability Tonya shares exactly how she lived with cancer and how you can as well. Because aside from our varying diagnoses and prognoses, how we live is most important. Tonya Garcia grew up on the Jersey Shore. Her family’s roots trace back to Puerto Rico and Sicily, where she credits her grandparents for instilling in her the value of perseverance and a deep love of family. As a teen mother who left high school, she went on to earn a master’s degree from Rutgers University and receive numerous accolades such as NJLA Librarian of the Year, Library Journal Mover and Shaker, the Key to the City of Long Branch and days in both Monmouth County and Long Branch named in her honor. After being elected President of the New Jersey Library Association, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. At what she thought was the pinnacle of her career, Tonya’s response to this diagnosis was, “I don’t have time for this.” Now wearing the scars of survival, Tonya speaks truth to power, sharing not only how she lived but how she used a cancer diagnosis to transform her life. A transformation made especially apparent, when just three years later, Tonya had the distinct honor of becoming a national medalist during a ceremony held at the White House.