Staying Alive: Staying Alive: Surviving Abuse, Fighting a War, and Beating Cancer–My First Twenty-Five Years

Staying Alive is award-winning journalist James Curry’s uplifting account of survival, graphically capturing the realities of war, the terrors of battling a deadly disease, and the challenges of healing childhood wounds. It illustrates Curry’s determination to conquer adversity and survive as he turns crises into blessings, and pain into power. The story begins with Curry’s childhood marred by poverty, neglect, and an abusive stepfather who denigrates him by constantly calling him a faggot. In Curry’s mind, this means weak, so he impulsively joins the Marines right out of high school to demonstrate he’s tough. Shortly thereafter, he not only finds himself on the frontlines of the war in Iraq but on a quest to find the secrets of masculinity and his identity.With remarkable candor, deep emotional insight, and occasional humor, Curry chronicles his coming-of-age journey, taking you inside his mind as he struggles with love, his sexuality, and his quest to become a man, all of it compounded by post-traumatic stress, veteran suicide, and homelessness.Along the way, he deals with a devastating cancer diagnosis with the odds of survival against him. But he silences the naysayers by taking on what he believes to be a destined journalism career-all before he turns twenty-five years old. James demonstrated the same grit and mental toughness battling cancer as he did as a Marine in Iraq. At work, he refused to skip a beat, cheerful as always. You’d never know that he had survived lymphoma AND a war. But with quiet resolve, he did it all. -CNN Anchor Natalie Allen