Advance praise
What early readers are saying
Before publication, On the Healing Road went out to a small circle of readers — a fellow memoirist of loss, a resilience researcher, and people who have walked this road themselves.
"A deeply personal and inspiring memoir that will resonate with anyone who has loved, lost, and searched for hope again."
"As someone who has spent a career studying resilience, I was struck by the authenticity of this story. Shane Yerkes doesn't offer easy answers to grief. Instead, he shows that healing unfolds through connection, meaning, and the courage to keep moving forward. This is a deeply personal and inspiring memoir that will resonate with anyone who has loved, lost, and searched for hope again."
— Keith M. Bellizzi, PhD, MPH
Professor and Resilience Researcher, University of Connecticut · Author of Falling Forward
"I was captivated from the first pages and held spellbound throughout."
"What happens when the person you love most is fighting for her life — and you are determined to walk every step of the journey beside her?
In On the Healing Road, Shane Yerkes shares four grueling years of love, fear, hope, heartbreak, and courage as his beautiful, fierce, and determined wife, Sara, battles cancer. With remarkable honesty, he takes us inside the realities of diagnosis and treatment, and into the heart of a family learning to live with the unimaginable.
After Sara's death, Shane and his ten-year-old son, Conor, set out across America. What begins as a road trip becomes a journey of healing, discovery, and a search for meaning in the wake of profound loss.
Raw, authentic, and deeply moving, this is more than a story about cancer. It is a story about love that endures, a father and son finding their way forward, and the lasting legacy of a woman who refused to let disease define her. I was captivated from the first pages and held spellbound throughout — a powerful reminder that while healing may never truly be finished, the courage to begin can change everything."
— Marianne Clyde
award-winning therapist, bestselling author & TEDx speaker
"A life-affirming companion that will encourage your soul."
"On the Healing Road reminds readers that while grief changes us, it does not have to define us. Reading this memoir evokes a deep sense of comfort and shared understanding — offering a gentle space to breathe for anyone traveling a similar path.
Shane Yerkes captures the raw, messy reality of caregiving and navigating life after the death of a spouse. Its core message is clear: healing is not about forgetting, but about learning to carry love forward into a meaningful tomorrow. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has experienced loss. It is a life-affirming companion that will encourage your soul."
— Jerry Pierson
author of Carrie's Journal: A Journey Through Life and Loss
A letter from an early reader
"Healing and grief can sit side by side"
"Reading this book by Shane Yerkes, I cried more than I expected to. It brought back the hospital stays, the conversations with doctors, the exact moment I was told my husband's heart had stopped and that he was gone. Your writing reminded me that no amount of preparation for a prolonged illness prepares you for that moment.
Your story reminded me that grief doesn't finish. It's like the heart gets used to the pain and it dulls over — until a layer of protection is scraped away. And there it is again.
What stayed with me most is what you built out of that loss. Taking your son on the road for a month, letting the miles do some of the work that words couldn't is a portrait of grief that doesn't ask us to move past loss, but to move through it, together. Your message of hope isn't a denial of the pain; it's proof that healing and grief can sit side by side, and that love keeps finding ways to show up even after the worst has happened.
Thank you for writing this. It moved me deeply."
— Carrie Hopson-Doubts, early reader
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