The Platinum in the Poison

In this accessible compilation of stories and supportive resources, Hannah invites us on her complex journey through a year of poison— the multi-drug, weekly chemotherapy that saved her life.

In 2020, Hannah was diagnosed with a rare stage IV cancer that came from her pregnancy, treated during the pandemic at Duke University Hospital.

This is a story of cancer, but also of Appalachian ancestors, of parenting, and of religious and spiritual questions. This book weaves narrative with potent integrative resources for finding hope, reclaiming your roots, and moving toward spiritual peace through cancer and other difficult experiences.

The Platinum is not just an image or metaphor —the spoiler is that there was literal Platinum in the chemotherapy drugs. In the highest way, the key to surviving chemotherapy was to embrace the light that was in the poison all along.

Hannah teaches us to do this. She shows us through her own story, through the marriage of western and alternative medicine, and through specific materials, modalities, and exercises.

Your journey is your own, but Hannah has arrived as a companion—a friendly guide who has gone there and back again. She brings humor and joyfully listenable prose as she untangles her year of cancer and shares spiritual and material resources for growth and healing along the way.