Miranda Rijks, 56, is an author known for her bestselling psychological thrillers. She lives in Sussex with her husband, musician daughter and black labradors. She was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma in August 2015. 

I was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma in my right femur. It was undoubtedly the hardest year of my life. I went through eleven rounds of chemo and had my femur removed and replaced.

Knowing nothing about cancer but a fair bit about writing, I set up a blog (Brain Sparks). I was surprised that there were so few novels depicting the raw, realism of cancer treatments.

There are a few fiction books out there about cancer, but they tend to end in death. Fortunately, that is not the reality for many of us diagnosed with cancer today. So, I set about writing a novel that gives hope, and… Don’t Call Me Brave was born.

One of the positives of getting so ill was being given the chance to re-evaluate what I really wanted to do. I started writing fiction in 2018, was signed by my publishers in 2019 and am now a full-time author, having written 18 psychological thrillers. Writing is my therapy.

I also really enjoying fundraising and have raised over £6,000 for Sarcoma UK.