Finding Purpose in the Storm
We are not able to change the events of our lives, but we can change how we show up in our lives. We are the malleable ones.
Thank You, Cancer is a powerful memoir about love, loss, resilience, and faith. Co-authored by Danny Lesslie and his late wife, Raffaella Dobles, it tells the story of their journey through Raffaella's five-year battle with Stage 4 cancer-and the life they built together in the face of it.
A captivating tapestry woven from two perspectives-- their journaling during hetr illness bound together with Danny's reflections after her passing-this book is a tribute to a remarkable woman, a loving mother and wife, and to a partnership that transcends time. It's a beacon of hope and a hallelujah born in deep struggle.
More than a story about illness, Thank You, Cancer invites the reader to choose love through the hardest moments. To choose hope despite alarming odds. It's about loving fiercely, letting go, and carrying someone's voice forward. This deeply personal memoir will move and inspire anyone who's faced loss, loved deeply, or searched for light in the dark.
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Testimonials/Reviews
Renee
Renee
Renee
Wow! I missed the last few nights of sleep staying up and reading your book! It is so well written and readable and emotionally driven. It takes the term characters coming alive to another level. I loved hearing her voice. Her struggle broke my heart, and I can relate to it in such an honest and raw way. Honestly, it was hard for me to read her words because it hit me so deeply. I want to send you a voice message, but I am just so emotionaI it would just be me talking through tears.
I can’t stop thinking about her words. She’s talking about you and says, let him love you…..
This broke me. Then she’s talking about how her body is deteriorating and how thankful she is that you see her on a soul level and not just her body. Such a testament to how well you loved her and cared for her in such a Godly way.
And I think it took at least 24 hours for me to recover after reading your words describing her last day on earth. How perfect and beautifully said that she took her last breath and her first breath with her mother. So heartbreaking but perfect. I understand that as a mother. What a gift. And so selfless for you to see the beauty in it and not take it personally.
I’m so honored that I was able to help in such a small way and how beautiful to hear the story of the house coming together while you were staying at the River house. Such a powerful description of the last trip.
And I loved hearing the intuitive ways that your daughters really did know more than most adults give them credit for. Our children are so intuitive and beautifully aligned to help us walk through this.
It is so cool to see you walking in what is clearly one of your spiritual gifts. It almost feels like you’ve spent your entire life, writing and the culmination of this have came to fruition in the physical form of a book. I’m so happy for you and I know she is so proud of you. You loved her so well. Sending you so much love and admiration.
At the risk of sounding book clubish, I came out of the trance that a good book takes you into, and realized. the ways that I’m not fully engaged in my life. I’ve described it before that I have this beautiful life with these wonderful kids, great friends, really a life I love, but my husband died. I will tell you the whole that was so gaping and wide has been filled with new memories and new experiences. It doesn’t lessen the pain, but it doesn’t magnify the beauty in so many ways which I’m thankful for. I am a better woman and mother because I walked this path, but the cost was so much.
Thank you for writing such an important book. I’m waiting for the next book🥰
Gayil
Renee
Renee
We finished your book today—me and Sam side by side-and we honestly could not put it down. We cried so hard it was unreal. We related so deeply, in our own way, to so many moments. That's what makes this book so special-you wrote it in a way that lets every reader truly connect, no matter their story.
When you mentioned our own connection, it stopped me cold. It lit a fire inside me-memories, truths, and the kind of love that doesn't break.
This book turned everything inside me upside down and ripped my heart out in the best way possible. It shook things loose that I didn't even know were waiting to be felt.
What overwhelms me most is how powerfully this book speaks to anyone fighting through the hardest, darkest times. It shows-in the rawest, most beautiful way-that when life tries to tear you apart, the answer is to move as a unit. To hold each other through the storm. To stay one heartbeat even when everything outside is chaos.
This is so much more than a story of loss. It's a blueprint for love, loyalty, and showing up for each other, no matter what. Hands down the most powerful, life-shifting book I have ever read. Everyone battling hardship needs to read this. It puts everything into place. Just...wow.
Danny, you are a force. Your writing doesn't just tell a story-it strikes a fire in people. I know I will be a changed person from here on out. I was reading your words while battling my own crazy physical challenges, and somehow every page felt perfectly timed. It was like the book met me exactly where I am, giving strength and perspective I didn't know I had.
I AM JUST SPEECHLESS. Still crying
Chad
Renee
Brian
Danny has written something truly extraordinary in “Thank You, Cancer.” As someone who had the honor of officiating his marriage to Raffi, just as he officiated mine to Kelli, I’ve witnessed firsthand the incredible bond this family shares.
This book is far more than a memoir about cancer—it’s a testament to the power of love, faith, and finding light in the darkest of circumstances. Danny masterfully weaves together three distinct yet interconnected perspectives: his own journey as a devoted husband, Raffi’s deeply personal journal entries from her courageous battle with cancer, and a spiritual dimension that offers profound comfort and meaning.
What makes this book so powerful is Danny’s unflinching honesty about their five-year journey, combined with his remarkable ability to find gratitude and growth amid unimaginable pain. Through his eyes, we see how this family—including their two daughters—drew closer together, day by day, finding strength in each other and their faith.
“Thank You Cancer” doesn’t shy away from the devastating reality of loss, but it illuminates how tragedy can transform a family, deepening bonds and revealing what truly matters. Danny’s courage in sharing Raffi’s voice through her journal entries creates an intimate portrait of resilience that will resonate with anyone who has faced life’s greatest challenges.
This is a book that will change how you think about adversity, family, and the unexpected gifts that can emerge from our darkest hours. Danny has given us all a profound gift in sharing their story.
Brian
Kristen
Brian
I read your story in two sittings, on the flight to Florida and the flight back. I’ve had a hard time deciding how to answer your request to hear my thoughts. I’m just honored to know it. I sincerely appreciate the intimacy and vulnerability as I felt like I was hearing your story uncooked and unseasoned, just as you intended in the introduction as if it were at a campfire. I actually appreciated the typos, it enforced the truth that this story is just what it is, almost like the unpolished nature of the writing made the moments on paper more immediate and real. I laughed. I grieved. I cried, hard, probably more than I should have, at times I just shook my head and had to put the book down for a few minutes. I was overcome with anger in certain chapters and hope filled astonishment in others.
I didn’t even begin to understand what you were carrying when we shared space together and I wish I would have. I feel honored to be a small sliver of this journey with you guys in what I now know to have been a much larger epic that hasn’t concluded with the closing of the book. Not sure I can put the impact into words, but to put it simply I’m moved, off center, to what I hope is a new center, in several aspects of my “wheel”. You talked about loss and its connection and not the comparison, I hope I’m welcomed to ask about you and Raffi in the time to come. Thank you for writing it, and for sending it. My wife is excited, if that’s even the appropriate emotion, to read it after seeing the roller coaster sitting next to me while reading it, and especially having met you and hearing things from me.
Kristen
Kristen
Kristen
Well, I finished it. I'm a very fast reader. I also found it very captivating. Um you're a very good storyteller which is such a gift and Raff is a great storyteller too. Um and together you guys are just like a force. So keep going. Cuz it's a it's really great. Um I mean if anything this is what I'm going to summarize it with right now.
And it'll make hopefully it makes much bigger sense than the simplicity of what I'm going to say. But I am going to get off my phone, close my work, laptop I'm going to go sit in the park. on Rachel's bench in the park that we grew up in. And look at the stage that we danced on together. And I'm going to take my shoes off. And I'm going to dance in the park in the sun. So that's what I'm going to do.
Because of your book. And that's no joke. Like I haven't been able to process anything about my dad. Until this aunt. I was in a fog and now I feel like I can actually experience it and I'm concerned or not concerned but if I had not had this book come when it did. I don't know if I would have been able to go through whatever. Life is just going to be brighter with more colors. As a result of your book. No matter if I was going through what I was going through with my dad or not. So just thank you for ripping yourself open like that. But I have to go now because I have to go dance barefoot in the sun.
Debra
Kristen
Kristen
I’ve just finished reading, “Thank You, Cancer.” This book is so beautifully written, which is a reflection/mirror of the authors themselves. I’ve laughed, and I’ve cried on and off throughout this book, which I read in three days. I feel such empathy for all they were faced with, yet inspiration for how much closer it brought them, along with how connected they were to love/truth. I feel a sense of rebirth these past few days, because of this book/story.
I have been more present with my friends and family; even strangers. We don’t know how long we have, yet this book makes me want to put all of the distractions aside, and love fully and presently. Raff, I hold you in deepest reverence. I can feel your wild spirit, and beautiful nature everywhere. I hope and pray you are surrounded by unconditional love and light, and free from ALL pain. You live on now through all those you’ve touched, which is SO many. Danny, thank YOU for being you! What an incredible husband, father, son, and friend you are, along with an inspiration! You faced all of this with courage, and honestly, yet continued to live dynamically, took risks, and loved deeply. This book is filled with such wisdom, and truths— I am a better person for having read this. Thank YOU Danny, Raff, and your beautiful girls.
Dez
Dez
Dez
Your book not only Had Me captivated by your love story of the century but it also opened my eyes to a new way of viewing grief. I there was this dance that I had while reading it. This, one part of me was just absolutely enthralled by your and Raffi's love story, which was absolutely incredibly beautiful and hard to navigate. And it's written in such a way that it played out like a perfect movie in my mind. And at the same time, it taught me something about grief that I didn't realize. I had for the longest, my entire life, thought that grief was just this blanket statement.
And what you taught me through this book is that grief is so many layers. It can happen all at once, like it happened for me when I lost the love of my life at the time, through a tragic motorcycle accident. It was instant. But grief can also be a long road of suffering and grieving health and after all of that suffering, then there's a separate grief that happens after the person's really gone. And I didn't realize that until I read this. So I want to thank you for so many things. but above everything else, it's just a beautiful experience, this beautiful ride that you and Raffy took me on, and I will be forever grateful for this.
T
Dez
Dez
Thank You, Cancer had me tearing up before I hit the table of contents. It was filled with real, raw, honest love and pain - both pulling on my heartstrings in ways that have forever changed the way I view womanhood, partnership, parenting and the bittersweet end of vibrant life. I opened the book curious and closed it (in 2 days) with hope...a knowing that no matter what happens in life, when you find your people, you can do absolutely anything. Thank you Raffi, Danny, Rue and Ace for your words.
I'm so grateful for them.
LJL
Dez
Yinuo
I've just finished reading, "Thank You,
Cancer." This book is so beautifully written, which is a reflection/mirror of the authors themselves. I've laughed, and I've cried on and off throughout this book, which I read in three days. I feel such empathy for all they were faced with, yet inspiration for how much closer it brought them, along with how connected they were to love/truth. I feel a sense of rebirth these past few days, because of this book/ story. I have been more present with my friends and family; even strangers. We don't know how long we have, yet this book makes me want to put all of the distractions aside, and love fully and presently. Raff, I hold you in deepest reverence. I can feel your wild spirit, and beautiful nature everywhere. I hope and pray you are surrounded by unconditional love and light, and free from ALL pain. You live on now through all those you've touched, which is SO many. Danny, thank YOU for being you! What an incredible husband, father, son, and friend you are, along with an inspiration! You faced all of this with courage, and honestly, yet continued to live dynamically, took risks, and loved deeply. This book is filled with such wisdom, and truths— I am a better person for having read this. Thank YOU Danny, Raff, and your beautiful girls.
Yinuo
Danielle
Yinuo
Thank You Cancer is a beautifully written and profoundly moving book. With grace and warmth, it tackles some of life’s hardest truths while offering rare insight, faith and hope. Danny’s unwavering devotion to Raffaella throughout her stage 4 cancer journey is both humbling and inspiring, leaving readers with a lasting impression of love’s power to endure even in the most difficult circumstances.
Michael
Danielle
Danielle
This book is both heartbreaking and inspiring. Danny beautifully captures the journey he and his wife faced during her battle with cancer, writing with honesty, vulnerability, and incredible strength. The perseverance and grit both Danny and Raffi showed in the fight is deeply moving, and Danny’s gift as a storyteller brings it all to life in a way that makes you feel as if you’re walking alongside them. It’s more than a book about illness—it’s a story about love, resilience, and the human spirit. Danny is an extraordinary writer, and his words stay with you long after you’ve finished the last page. Highly recommend to anyone who has been touched by cancer, or who simply wants to read a story of courage and hope.
Danielle
Danielle
Danielle
Thank you for sending the book so quickly! I got it yesterday and already finished it...I couldn't put it down! I've seen your videos a lot, so I kind of know a little about you, but I feel like you captured her feistiness, strength, and love incredibly well. When you wrote about her positive mindset I found myself relating a lot of it to my life, like appreciating all the things that are going RIGHT, not what's wrong. I'm an Oncology RN, so I know about cancer, and I see how hard it is for families to see someone they love so much go through so much pain, but it sounds like you both did an amazing job of supporting each other
throughout it all. I believe the love that got you through is still there, and probably stronger now that you know death is not the end. I especially loved all the God moments, gave me tears and chills. Sending lots of love to you and your girls
...and thank you for being vulnerable enough to share your story with the world, it is an amazing one and I think it could help a lot of other people through their own journies!
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