When survival is not enough

Zainab T Khan gives life lessons with story of cancer patient

KARACHI: Picture this: you are a young girl suffering from stage two of lung cancer. Although you have strong chances of survival, thanks to medication and chemotherapy, your fight is still up against the disease. And yet, you continue to enjoy life on your own terms.

This exactly is the story of Summer Wallace and her ‘Bucket Full of Awesome’. By her side is her best friend Blake Knight who is willing to anything only if she agrees to going for chemo.

She, on the other hand, is bent on making life come to terms with her understanding of it. Knight still does not give up and continues to be the friend whom she snubs more often than not. Their relationship might be too cheesy for some, but Zainab T Khan the writer manages to keep balance.

All corny situations can be dealt with if you have the energy to boss around your feelings and are willing to walk the walk. There should be the will to live life on one’s own terms. But pivotal to all this is the presence of someone who is right beside you. Someone who will be by your side come what may.



The plot Khan weaves is not simple. With all the twists and turns she points to the fact how one should really do their very best in ascertaining one’s course of life. Not all cancer-related stories end on a happy note. Kudos to the author for saying it out loud in a way that is subtle yet very explicit.

Title: A Bucket Full of Awesome

Author: Zainab T Khan

Price: $8.94

Pages: 184

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2016.

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