Vixen, not victim!

On Cancer Survivor Day, we celebrate those who have fought cancer and won, while bringing hope to those still battling this terrible disease. With 'Cancer Vixen', Marisa Acocella's powerful, colorful and often hilarious cancer memoir, the American cartoonist has created a life-affirming gift for women on the front lines and beyond: a Sex and the City type tale of a woman kicking cancer’s butt - in killer heels! - that inspires hope and some healing laughter. "The word is vixen, not victim."

When Marisa's mother was pregnant with her, she received a phone call from a woman with a husky voice who claimed to be Jackie Kennedy. "Are you the shoe designer? I need shoes to wear to my husband's inauguration," the woman said. Marisa Acocella laughs when she tells me the story: "My mother needed some persuading that she wasn't getting pranked, but a few weeks later, during J.F.K's inauguration, the First Lady wore my mother's shoes." For Marisa, shoes are magical. "When I get stressed out, I sketch shoes." Not surprisingly, they also play a big role in 'Cancer Vixen', the bestselling graphic novel that tells the story of a 43-year-old, shoe-crazy, lipstick-obsessed, fashion-fanatic, about-to-get-married cartoonist who finds a lump in her breast. “After I got diagnosed, I was walking along the Hudson River with my best friend Bob. As you can imagine, I wasn't feeling or looking all that glamorous. When I told him I was going to write about my experience, calling it ‘Breast Case Scenario', he was like, ‘Noooo! That is terrible. You look like a victim! Where’s my vixen?’ And I thought: "Cancer Vixen, that's it!’ So, I drew myself as a cancer-fighting vixen and it felt really empowering." She adds: "Words have so much power."

During Marisa's eleven-month, ultimately triumphant bout with breast cancer, she found strength and comfort in journaling. "While I was receiving chemo treatments, I would sketch with an IV in my hand. It's the best advice I can give anyone going through a traumatic experience: write stuff down. It gives you a voice. And you may even see the humor in things." The sassy New Yorker also practiced something she likes to call 'the law of distraction'. "To distract myself from the pain, I would focus on something beautiful: my shoes!" To each of her treatments, Marisa would wear her 'support shoes', from metallic blue, snakeskin killer heels to her Giuseppe Zanotti wedding pumps (her fiancée had refused to cancel the wedding). Together with the 'lucky' lipsticks she wore on those difficult days, these were a Cancer Vixen's secret weapons.

When Marisa saw her first sonogram, the cancer looked like a black hole to her, but her oncologist chose to describe it as a pearl. It sparked a transformation in Marisa. "I realized that you can go into a black hole - a negative space - or you can see it as an opportunity to be positive, and perhaps even become a better person in the process." At the moment, Marisa is cancer free and positively thriving. Having always been inspired by powerful women, she decided to finally retell the 'herstory' of the world in a fabulous graphic novel called 'The Big She-bang', celebrating 'shevolutionaries' from Eve to Gloria Steinem. 'Cancer Vixen' is about to become an animated series, and Marisa is channeling her renewed respect for Mother Earth into projects such as her 'Divine Mother Earth Time' podcast. I ask her how she celebrates life after overcoming cancer. "By looking after myself and spending time with the people I love," Marisa says, passionately. "And by making the most of every minute."