Miriam Linda Engelberg (January 7, 1958 – October 17, 2006) was a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

ist and illustrator, whose battle with

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spreading from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, ...

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

was chronicled in her bestselling comic

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

, ''Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person''. Engelberg was born to a Jewish family in Philadelphia but raised in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

as a Quaker. She began practicing Judaism during college and later converted to Catholicism. She referred to herself as a "Catholic-Quaker-Jew". She worked as a teacher which provided fodder for her and a friend, Gayle Schmitt, to write and perform a black comedy, ''Spit Out Your Gun, It's School Policy''. In 2001, at the age of 43, she was diagnosed with

. She observed the harrowing and difficult experience she had with

cancer treatment Cancer treatments are a wide range of treatments available for the many different types of cancer, with each cancer type needing its own specific treatment. Treatments can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, targ ...

. These observations, drawn in Engelberg's primitive style, would eventually be published as ''Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person''. In August 2006, she revealed in her

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

that her cancer had spread to her brain, and she was receiving

palliative care Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Man ...

through home

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

. As of October 2006, Engelberg was still continuing to publish comics through her website, although her once weekly comic updates were growing less frequent and consistent.

Death and legacy

Miriam Engelberg died on October 17, 2006, aged 48. She was survived by her husband and son. As a staff member at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, she served as both a technology trainer and resident cartoonist. Her cartoon
Planet 501c3
' was the first cartoon series depicting life in the nonprofit sector. She was credited with coining the term "accidental techie", describing many of her students who had a role as technology experts in small nonprofits despite having little or no formal training in technology. The term is widely used in the nonprofit sector and was inspiration for the book
Accidental Techie: Supporting, Managing, and Maximizing Your Nonprofit's Technology
'.

Works

* ''Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person'',

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, New York City
''Welcome to Planet501c3: Tales from The Nonprofit Galaxy'', CompassPoint

Accidental Techie: Supporting, Managing, and Maximizing Your Nonprofit's Technology
amazon.com Her work was also published in the ''

San Francisco Bay Guardian The ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'' was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. Parts of the paper were relaunched online in February 2016. History The ''Bay Guar ...

'',
Nonprofit Quarterly
', an

References

External links

Miriam's Blog

Obituary by CompassPoint nonprofit services

NPR Article on Cancer-Themed Graphic Novels

Planet501c3 complete collection of nonprofit cartoons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engelberg, Miriam 1958 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women American comics writers American female comics artists Converts to Roman Catholicism Deaths from breast cancer in California American female comics writers Jewish American artists Jewish American novelists Jewish women writers Writers from Lexington, Kentucky Writers from San Francisco