The Luckiest Unlucky Couple

A Medical Love Story

By: Alicia C. Shepard

Narrated by: Katherine Fenton

The story goes something like this: successful journalist and author, Alicia (Lisa), in her late 50s, is single and mostly happy but has given up on finding love again after her first marriage ended abruptly.

Her friends convince her to at least try Match.com, and she finds the love of her life. Then out of the blue, he is diagnosed with melanoma, which has travelled to his brain. Through immunotherapy, he gets cured. And through the process of his illness, she and his children---not especially close before---become a family. That is the first half of the book.

Not long after he is pronounced cured, she is diagnosed with lung cancer. That is the second half of the book, wherein she struggles with cancer, dying, surrendering to support, gets remarried, and ultimately finds deeper love for all things. The book not only details her emotional journey, it also contains a lot of useful information on cutting-edge immunotherapy techniques, and how to live in the moment when that is not your predisposition. The epilogue, written by her husband, shares life after Lisa's passing. In the appendix the couple shares helpful tips for patients and families wrestling with cancer.

©2026 Alicia C. Shepard (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

It is quite touching, compelling and wise. I believe it will be of value to individuals battling cancer and their loved ones. (Dr. Michael Atkins)

Being a journalist in Afghanistan doesn’t automatically prepare you to deal with the news of metastatic melanoma in your partner’s brain. Or does it? Lisa shares with us a double crash course in cancer. And shows us how love can thrive in this personal journey of the luckiest unlucky couple. (Missy Rand)

Part romance, part medical detective mystery, set amidst the war in Afghanistan and the chaos of Covid Washington. These two souls found each other and never let go. It has insights into today’s state of the art treatments for cancer. And for broken hearts. You are not likely to forget its message. (Paul Magnusson)

A journalist at heart with a zest for life, Lisa Shepard left us far too soon. She also left us a heart-rending narrative of back-to-back battles with cancer, one triumphant, the other tragic. It is a story of courage, resilience and grace that is a testament to the human spirit — a compelling final chapter in her inspiring legacy. (Alan C. Miller)