One Day I’ll Tell My Children About My Mother’s Death. Until Then, I’ll Show Them How She Lived

When Marisa Bardach Ramel was 17, her mother Sally Bardach was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The pair decided to write a book together about their experiences as they faced down the encroaching reality of saying goodbye. Seventeen years following Sally's death in 2002, the mother-daughter book, told in chapters that alternate between their perspectives, is being published as The Goodbye Diaries. The following excerpt was written while Marisa was pregnant with her daughter last year.

When Marisa Bardach Ramel was 17, her mother Sally Bardach was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The pair decided to write a book together about their experiences as they faced down the encroaching reality of saying goodbye. Seventeen years following Sally's death in 2002, the mother-daughter book, told in chapters that alternate between their perspectives, is being published as The Goodbye Diaries. The following excerpt was written while Marisa was pregnant with her daughter last year.