There Must Be More: Finding purpose in a life with cancer

(Paperback)

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No one chooses to have cancer, no one chooses to go through a traumatic life changing experience, but the way I respond to it is the way I'd like to be remembered.


This isn't a book about cancer. It's a book about being dealt a devasting blow, being knocked down, and getting back up again. It's a book about living with a terminal diagnosis and in spite of a terminal diagnosis. Kellie Finlayson is not a cancer survivor - she was diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer at age 25 in 2021 and she is still living with the disease three years on - but she is a cancer thriver.

The odds say Kellie shouldn't be here - her cancer is aggressive and end-stage - and yet, she is. Kellie is defiant. She always has been, just ask her mum, her close friends or her husband, Jeremy. 'Dying is not an option,' she says. You see, Kellie has too much to live for. Her daughter Sophia was just three-months old when she was diagnosed with cancer. It is Sophia who gets Kellie through the dark days, the hopeless moments and the harsh treatments. 'My daughter is my purpose in life, and I will live all of my days for her,' reveals Kellie, who also finds purpose in sharing her story and raising awareness about bowel cancer.

Bowel cancer is Australia's second most common cause of cancer-related death, and it is the leading cancer killer in 25-45-year-olds. As a Jodi Lee Foundation ambassador and co-host of the Sh!t Talkers podcast, Kellie is determined to change those statistics. Her memoir, There Must Be More, is told from her unique position as someone living with cancer - not someone who has "beaten" cancer, or a loved one left behind, someone in the thick of it.

Kellie is brutally honest and endearingly vulnerable in the pages of her book, which is at once heartbreaking, heartwarming and life affirming. She is so much more than 'Jeremy Finlayson's terminally ill partner'. Kellie is a force, a defier of odds and an inspiration.

Author Bio

Kellie Finlayson is a mother, a wife, a cancer patient and an ambassador for the Jodi Lee Foundation. She co-hosts a podcast called Sh!tTalkers.

Alley Pascoe is a best-selling, award-winning writer with a background in magazines and memoirs. She knows a good story when she hears one, and has written such stories for the country's most-read publications including The Australian Women's Weekly, Stellar, Body&Soul, Gourmet Traveller and marie claire magazine, where she was formerly the Features Editor. Her books include the acclaimed Heartstrong with Ellidy Pullin, Love and Pain with Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou of Silverchair, and The Girl in the Green Dress with Jeni Haynes. Alley is based on Larrakia Country in Darwin and does her best work by the pool with an iced latte in hand and her dog Fae underfoot.