When my mother gets cancer for the second time, she asked if I would keep her company through her chemotherapy. And of course, I said yes. But how am I meant to cope with it all? Pam Pam uses a clean but comical style to portray the joys and sorrows of accompanying a loved one through an illness.

Despite the technical and medical wonders of the modern age, cancer remains one of humanity’s biggest enemies. And while we all know the patients themselves suffer, what of their loved ones, who find themselves sudden becoming carers, struggling with negative emotions, drained by the demands upon them? They too face a long physical and emotional battle.

Good Friend, Cancer is a daughter’s first-hand account of her mother’s chemotherapy treatment. Finding herself now responsible for caring for her mother, she worries as she waits in the hospital that maybe her genes mean the same fate is in store for her. And she is also resentful – she has missed out on a change to follow her dreams and travel overseas. And most of all, and most unanswerably: why her?

Graphic novelist Pam Pam’s simple style and plain strokes provide a humorous look at a harsh reality and turn misfortunes into charming tales. Over the course of 18 short comics, Pam Pam examines the traditional roles of a “daughter” and the pressures of being an adult as she portrays truths about family relationships which we all recognize – even if we cannot admit to it.