On the 4th September 1995 Mavis and husband Hans are living in their latest project house, a rather dilapidated mill property which they will turn into a beautiful home. When Mavis drops into her local surgery to pick up cough medicine, she hears the result of routine tests - news that will change their lives for ever. Mavis's tests have shown positive for oesophageal cancer, one of the most aggressive and debilitating diseases, and she learns that as a woman of fifty-three, she has a less than ten per cent statistical chance of surviving another five years. Mavis is determined that however long she has left will be quality time. Overcoming that oesophageal cancer is just the start of her ordeal. When five years later Mavis and Hans move to a beautiful finca in the mountains of southern Spain she is diagnosed with cancer of the vocal cord. She has another operation from which again she manages to recover. But just three months later Mavis faces an even more frightening ordeal. She learns she has cancer of the larynx. With this operation she must give the surgeon the responshibility to make a crucial decision during the procedure.
She goes under the anaesthetic not knowing if she will ever be able to speak again. Only when Mavis comes round from this third operation does she discover which of two procedures the surgeon needed to take. Tragically, she is faced with the worst news imaginable. Mavis will never hear her own voice again. Although as far down psychologically as it would seem possible to go, Mavis struggles back. She learns another way of talking and recovers from her most terrible ordeal. Hans and Mavis rebuild their lives and routines and five years later set off on a longed for holiday to relax with the family in South Africa. But there she is faced with another cancer - cancer of the uterus. A fourth operation is needed and despite the added complications of previous tissue modification, the operation is successful. Two weeks later, back home in Spain, Mavis and Hans now face their deepest crisis ever. Mavis is rushed to hospital; one of her lungs is filling with fluid and is near collapse. The intensive care team tell Hans privately that Mavis's condition is as bleak as it could possibly be. First tests suggest cancer of the pleural wall.
Hans must wait for the result of further tests and forty-eight hours later he hears that their son, Patrick, has been taken to hospital unconscious, with serious injuries in a car accident. Hans experiences the worst moments of his life. But then another cancer operation is needed for cancer of the bladder. Perhaps uniquely, not one of Mavis's five operations was followed by chemo or radiotherapy. At sixty-eight years old she is now enjoying life and nature in their beautiful home in the mountains with very few restrictions. When one night Hans tells Mavis, as she walks across their lounge, that she looks fit and confident, she says she knows this to be true. And she is grateful and happy for herself as well as for Hans. Mavis's story is structured to cover her family life and experiences of her conditions and medical operations. And to neatly refer the reader from her side of the procedures to the relevant surgeon's texts at the back of the book. Here the reader can, should they wish, read the actual notes on the various procedures and his views on Mavis's progress