In Too DIEP: Travelling Through Breast Cancer

Tanya Sullivan is launching her memoir, In Too DIEP: Travelling Through Breast Cancer, at Pazzo Ristorante & Enoteca in downtown Halifax on Sunday, September 20. The afternoon runs from 1:00 to 3:00 pm and centres on the book, which Sullivan describes as a story of resilience, survival, identity and rebuilding.

It's a long road to this launch. Sullivan, an Aylesford resident originally from the Niagara region of Ontario, started writing the memoir in 2017 and finished it nine years later. She wrote it to help others process the emotions that come with a breast cancer diagnosis, and the title itself points to the DIEP flap reconstruction that was part of her treatment. The book is the first of several she's put out: she also wrote Managing Anxiety After Cancer, the self-care planner Grace in the Storm and the poetry collection Ephemeral.

Her medical history is a heavy one. It began with thyroid cancer in 2012, followed by stage 3 lobular carcinoma in 2016, which she treated with chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and a DIEP flap reconstruction. Then in 2024, she faced a recurrence of radiation-induced angiosarcoma that required a third mastectomy and an anterolateral thigh (ALT) flap repair. That's the journey the memoir works through.

The launch itself is more than just a book on a table. The afternoon includes a conversation, a reading from the book, a Q&A and a signing, so there's a chance to hear her read her own work and ask questions. It's at Pazzo Ristorante & Enoteca in downtown Halifax on Sunday, September 20, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.