At the age of twenty-five, Kimiko Tobimatsu was a young, queer, mixed-race woman with no history of health problems whose world was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In an instant, she became immersed in a new and complicated life of endless appointments, evaluations, and treatments, and difficult conversations with her partner and parents. Kimiko knew that this wasn’t what being twenty-five was supposed to be like … but then, she didn’t have a choice.

With tender illustrations by Keet Geniza, Kimiko Does Cancer is a graphic memoir that upends the traditional “cancer narrative” from a young woman’s perspective, confronting issues such as dating while in menopause, navigating work and treatment, and talking to well-meaning friends, health care professionals, and other cancer survivors with viewpoints different from her own. Not one for pink ribbons or runs for the cure, Kimiko seeks connection within the cancer community while also critiquing the mainstream cancer experience.

Honest and poignant, Kimiko Does Cancer is about finding one’s own way out of a health crisis.

This publication meets the EPUB Accessibility requirements and it also meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-AA). It is screen-reader friendly and is accessible to persons with disabilities. A book with many images, which is defined with accessible structural markup. This book contains various accessibility features such as alternative text for images, table of contents, page-list, landmark, reading order and semantic structure.

Kimiko Tobimatsu is an employment and human rights lawyer by day. Kimiko Does Cancer, based on her own experience, is her first book.

Kimiko Tobimatsu's profile page

Keet Geniza is a Filipinx-Canadian illustrator and comic artist. Born and raised in Manila, she moved to Toronto in 2006 and has since immersed herself in zines and comics as a way to document her struggles as a queer immigrant woman of colour. Kimiko Does Cancer is her first book.

Keet Geniza's profile page

"

Beautifully drawn and candidly told, Kimiko Does Cancer asks important questions about how to move forward when you've seemingly beaten cancer, yet it continues to affect every part of your life - from your body and self-image to your relationships and sense of purpose. Kimiko leads us, with openness and vulnerability, on a cancer journey focused less on survival and more on how best to live while staying true to herself." —Teresa Wong, author of Dear Scarlet
"This is an important and insightful cancer memoir that does not try to laugh off the suffering and anguish that a cancer diagnosis brings. Aided by Keet Geniza's compelling illustrations, Kimiko brings an original queer perspective to the genre, dealing with issues of masculinity, body image, reproduction, identity and self-worth, raising questions that this reader had not previously considered." —Ian Williams, author of The Bad Doctor
"Geniza's expressive figure drawings show a keen eye for the close-up, with a simple color palate of muted blues, blacks, and grays that call to mind Alison Bechdel's Fun Home. Kimiko's strong debut offers a fresh perspective in the growing graphic medicine category." —Publishers Weekly
"An engaging and inspirational account of dealing with illness and its perception." —Kirkus Reviews