My Journey with Polycythemia Vera
A Story of Hope and Healing — by Ashley Shay
A rare blood cancer memoir about a diagnosis that rerouted a life — and the hope found on the other side of it. Ashley Shay was building a marketing career when polycythemia vera, a rare chronic blood cancer, changed everything. She traded a conventional home for 300 square feet on the road — and wrote her way through what came next.
This is a memoir for patients, caregivers, and anyone whose life didn't go to plan. With honesty and hope, Ashley shares the fear, the faith, and the healing of living with an invisible illness — while also caring for her mother through her own cancer journey. It is a story about learning that rest is not quitting, hope is a daily practice, and home is a place you take with you.
Paperback · Published October 4, 2026 · ISBN 9798187338153
The daily companion to the memoir: A 365-Day Resilience Journal by Ashley Shay — one small page of hope at a time, for the days that feel heavy.
Ashley Shay is the author of My Journey with Polycythemia Vera and the creator of Traveling Sandfleas. She travels full-time in a 300-square-foot van with her partner Berlin and their two pups, Montgomery and Edison, and writes from the road. Follow her adventures at @TravelingSandfleas.