THE SHOW MUST GO ON The Story of a Three-Time Metastatic Cancer Survivor/Thriver By Tara DeLorenzo Looking to spread positivity and connect people with her story, three-time metastatic cancer survivor/ thriver Olivia Summer Hutcherson has been sharing her experience through her poetry book The Show Must Go On, which she is releasing as an audiobook at the start of 2022. Hutcherson had been a professional dancer for most of her life, working as backup dancers for celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Madonna and she was teaching dance at Broadway Dance Center as well. At 26-years-old, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. And through it all, poetry became an outlet. “I went through the ringer,” she said. “I had a 15-hour surgery; I went through chemo; I froze my eggs; I lost my hair. I did the whole bit, and I was cancer free for four years, which was a huge blessing. Then again, at 30, I was diagnosed a second time, and that time it had metastasized to my bones, which was a huge shock. Around that time, during that four-year window, I had been working on a poetry book, as an 34
outlet since I wasn’t able to dance so much.” It was three days after The Show Must Go On was published that Hutcherson received her second diagnosis. She was able to beat cancer the second time, but in December 2020, the cancer had spread again. And now she is working to convert her poems, which chronicle her experience with cancer, life and love, including a domestic violence relationship, to an audiobook. Hutcherson is looking to have the audiobook be a more immersive experience for readers. “What makes my audiobook a little different is that I wanted to take the listener on a journey with me,” Hutcherson said “So if I have a poem called ‘E.R.,’ it’s not just me reading the poem, you can hear the sounds in the background of the beeping machines, the nurses talking, patients milling around, so I’m really bringing the listener into the room with me, and every poem is like that. It’s really a journey and an experience, and that was so important to me because I wanted people to feel what I’m feeling. Or there’s a poem called ‘River’ – a lot of days when I
