After dire diagnosis, Freeland author lives to write a new chapter

Published 1:30 am Friday, June 12, 2026

A year ago, Freeland resident Mia Saenz was preparing for the possibility that she only had one year left to live.

This month, the author is celebrating the release of a book inspired by a diagnosis she once feared would end her story.

Saenz, a spiritual psychology coach and publisher, recently released “Cancer the Gift: A Breast Cancer Survivor’s Companion to Defiant Joy and Grace,” a memoir-inspired collection that explores life beyond a cancer diagnosis. Co-written with her longtime friend Kate Houston, the book combines their experiences with the stories of other women who have survived breast cancer and rebuilt their lives afterward.

Rather than focusing solely on defeating breast cancer, the book examines what comes next.

“People talk about surviving,” Saenz said. “But we don’t ever hear them talk about reclaiming their femininity, their identity, their sensuality, their dreams or even their future.”

The project began after Saenz approached Houston, a librarian and former relationship coach she has known for years, about writing together. As they developed the book, they realized their two stories could not capture the range of experiences women face after a cancer diagnosis.

The final book includes the stories of 10 women with backgrounds in cancer coaching, each sharing a different perspective on navigating illness, recovery and personal transformation.

For Saenz, the project is meaningful because of her own health journey.

Six years ago, doctors discovered she had cancer. Since then, she has experienced recurring diagnoses that she attributed to a gene mutation that causes cancer to return. In March 2025, she was told her condition was terminal and that she had less than a year to live.

Then, she said, a miracle happened.

Regular testing used to monitor her cancer showed a dramatic decline in the markers doctors were tracking. The shift inspired her to move forward with a project she had long considered but never fully embraced.

“I grabbed Kate. I said, ‘I’m not going to die. I’m not gonna die. Let’s write a book,” she remembered. “This is the book. It’s love, it’s power, it touches everybody.”

Today, Saenz said she is walking without the cane she had relied on for two years. Her dog, Sugar, who the News-Times reported on two years ago, was hospitalized after licking chemotherapy cream off a man’s head and is also, against the odds, thriving and healthy. Saenz enjoys spending time with Sugar and participating more fully in daily life.

“When your life breaks open,” Saenz said, “you have the chance, the opportunity to say, who am I gonna become?”

Although the book is rooted in breast cancer experiences, Hanks hopes it reaches a broader audience. She said it is intended not only for patients but also for families and loved ones seeking to better understand what survivors endure physically and emotionally.

The memoirs explore “resilience, friendship, healing, hope, femininity, and learning how to live fully again,” she said. Together, Saenz added, the project is like a quilt — a collection of individual experiences stitched together into a source of support and connection.

Saenz hopes readers come away with a renewed sense of possibility, regardless of the challenges they face.

“It’s more than okay to create a new life,” she said.

The book is available through multiple retailers and at cancerthegift.com.