In 2006, 28-year-old Erica Murray was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. She had studied abroad in Paris, visited over 25 countries, and spent a year teaching English in Tokyo. With a bright future ahead of her in the international arena, her leukemia changed her active lifestyle. Because Erica was both Chinese and Caucasian, her tissue type was especially difficult to match. Despite undergoing a stem cell transplant from an unrelated match in April of 2008, Erica passed away on December 4th, 2008. She will be greatly missed.
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It is early December and not surprisingly I thought of the person who I feel started the process of me writing my published novel: Erica Murray (RIP). As fate would have it, I made an online friend who wanted to know about my life in Iran. Her name was Erica Murray. She was battling leukemia. I would ask her why she wanted to know about my life in Iran. She was ‘just interested’ she said. So, I started sending her emails about it. It was a wonderful excuse to safely tell someone things about my life there I had never told anyone. Those emails became the basis for the first six chapters. But when Erica died in early December 2008, I felt like a battle and a friend had been lost — and I lost interest in the project. At least I had gotten some of Iran out of my system because of Erica. I felt it was sadly ironic that though I was trying to support her, she actually did more for me than I ever did for her. Erica, wherever you are, Thank you!