“This may be your last Christmas…”
Those devastating words weren’t just a diagnosis—they were a challenge.
In Terminal Hope: How A Clinical Trial Saved My Life, Cheryl Stratos recounts the moment her world was turned upside down by a terminal metastatic melanoma diagnosis. A successful professional and devoted mother, Cheryl had never imagined she’d be told her life expectancy could be measured in months. But this is not a story about dying—it’s a story about living with urgency, humor, grit, and hope.
With raw honesty and a refreshingly bold voice, Cheryl leads readers through the whirlwind of a cancer journey that began with numbness on her left side and quickly escalated into hospital visits, invasive tests, and an alarming PET scan that lit up “like a Christmas tree.” Doctors told her there were no viable treatment options. But Cheryl—and her husband, Mike—refused to accept that fate.
They embarked on a mission to find something, anything, that could extend her life. That search led them to a Phase I Clinical Trial called PLX-4032, an experimental BRAF-inhibitor drug being tested in early-stage but preformed wonderfully in the lab. Cheryl fought tooth and nail to enroll, knowing it was a long shot. What happened next stunned the medical community—Cheryl’s tumors shrank dramatically. She had become a medical miracle with this groundbreaking BRAF-inhibitor drug known now as Zelboraf.
But Terminal Hope is more than a miracle story. It’s a heartfelt, often humorous journey that offers readers insight into the cracks in our medical system, the emotional toll of living scan to scan, and the incredible resilience that blossoms in the face of mortality. Cheryl brings readers into her inner world—her fears, her doubts, her fierce love for her family—and shows how hope isn’t just something you have. It’s something you fight for.
As a survivor, Cheryl is now a patient ambassador for the National Foundation for Cancer Researchand Patient Navigator with 1104Health, a company built to help cancer patients find clinical trials, like the one that saved her life. Her book also serves as a blueprint for patients and caregivers navigating the confusing, and often overwhelming, cancer care system.
Terminal Hope is not only a story of beating cancer—it’s a love letter to anyone who’s ever had to find light in the darkest places. Full of warmth, wit, and unshakable purpose, this memoir will break your heart and build it right back stronger.
