Get Well (or Die)

Four years ago, Jordie Poncy was excited to start his new job as a psychologist serving patients at one of the country’s most prestigious cancer centers. A week before his start date, he got his own diagnosis—Stage IV neuroendocrine carcinoma, with an estimated two years left to live.

When he thought about starting his new job as a cancer psychologist, Jordie imagined he’d be asking things like “Will my coworkers like me?” and “Where’s the printer?”, not “Will I live long enough for them to like me?” or “Will I be around long enough to use said printer?” His once-normal life full of friends, family, and job success became a whirlwind of chemo, hopelessness, and the possibility of removing vital organs. But it didn’t stay that way. After the epiphany that he wasn’t dead yet, Jordie realized that even when you’re dying of cancer, there’s still a lot to live for.

Even with the clock ticking, he started his job at the cancer center providing emotional support and mental health guidance for other cancer patients. In this book, Jordie chronicles the daily reality of staring mortality dead in the eyes, but also the moments of love and beauty he’s witnessed along the way: the strength and resilience of his fellow cancer patients, the support of his colorful cast of friends and family, and all the ways his faith in God has changed and grown. 

Get Well (or Die) asks questions we all wrestle with at different times in our lives: What does it mean to live well? How do we accept our life when it hasn’t turned out at all the way we thought it would? What is the purpose of suffering? It’s also about an exercise class full of ornery older ladies, an accidental cat adoption, at-home dentistry, gallows humor, and what it’s like to have an attorney for a sister. Most of all, it’s an invitation to reflect on the joyous truth that even when it seems like there’s no reason at all for hope, life is still meaningful and, ultimately, beautiful.