“A Place to Achor: Journalism, Cancer, and Rewriting Mi Vida as a Latina on the Border” is an autobiography written by Estela Casas, that affords the reader the opportunity to see inside this woman’s life: as a journalist, her life with cancer and the journey of life itself. As a news anchor in El Paso, Estela was a constant presence in the homes of her viewers. The viewers trusted her, she helped them through tragic and trying times and after life changing news of her own, she had to learn to trust others as well as reinvent herself.
Estela’s story is one of courage under fire. As we learn, she is taken by surprise with a diagnosis of thyroid and bilateral breast cancer. But learning to deal with it, the way she did, is very much a unique experience. Estela was used to being the one who reported on the news. She kept her private life just that, private. But now, she was the news, and with cancer there is really no such thing as a private life. Estela had to decide to be open with her fans and viewers, who strangely enough became both her reason to live as well as her way to change who she was and how she saw herself.
As a journalist you are privy to many behind the scenes circumstances and you pick and choose how to report on things so that the viewer can make informed decisions as to what to do or how to react. Yet, in real life, when your own life experiences are the news, you are the story and it is nearly impossible to disassociate oneself and just tell the story’s facts. You are involved, you go through every stage, there are no lights, camera or action, because it is all too real and you are the main character without a script or even worse a makeup department.
Fear, vulnerability and faith become your constant companions, they dress you in the latest looks, like the chemo hairstyle, the hospital gown and the post surgery look of uncertainty. You hardly recognize who you are and you don’t know if this new version can go back to life as it was and live it as status quo. Faith or fear becomes Estela’s mantra, she musters her courage and embraces the uncomfortable all in the hopes of advocating for others to be their own health care advocates. The only wish she has other than being alive to enjoy her life with her children and watching them grow, is to know that her challenges pushed others to practice self-care, to push them to take an interest in their physical well-being and while they are at it, to take a long hard look at what faith can do for them in times of trouble.
Estela’s decision to let the viewers into her private bubble was one that surprised even her, yet there was never really any doubt to the fact that this is how she had to experience it all. The viewers needed to know what was going on and Estela needed to share and change but most importantly she needed her viewers to be there with her. During all of these trials, she becomes very aware of just how much she needs her viewers. With each chapter of the book, each turn of the page we are drawn into the shared experience. When Estela is faced with a challenge, feels free, embraces her changing looks, rediscovers her faith in God, we are there right with her.
The book resonated with me as my life seemed to mirror some of Estela’s experiences, an orphan, a mother, Latinx, journalist and a survivor, not of cancer but a number of near catastrophic brain bleeds that required emergency brain surgery. Our stories are not the same exactly but I was able to empathize with Estela and her journey. You do, however, need not go through a major medical issue to get something from this book. The book is a story of a life and of a death. The death of old self to a newer thriving ever changing for the better version of herself. I am certain you will find a nugget of wisdom or two in this woman’s journey. I highly recommend this book, as you will laugh, cry, become hopeful, have fear and find yourself and your journey in the one being shared with you. I loved this book and I think you will too.
