Bless the Blood Published: 6th February 2024

When Walela is diagnosed at twenty-three with advanced stage blood cancer, they're suddenly thrust into the unsympathetic world of tubes and pills, doctors who don't use their correct pronouns, and hordes of 'well-meaning' but patronising people offering unsolicited advice as they navigate rocky personal relationships and share their story online. But this experience also deepens their relationship to their ancestors, providing added support from another realm. Walela's diagnosis becomes a catalyst for their self-realisation.

As they fill out forms in the insurance office in downtown Los Angeles or travel to therapy in wealthier neighbourhoods, they begin to understand that cancer is where all forms of their oppression intersect: Disabled. Fat. Black.

Queer. Nonbinary. In Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir, the author details a galvanising account of their survival despite the U.S.

medical system, and of the struggle to face death unafraid.

Content Warning: death, illness, racism, medical neglect, suicide attempt.