About the Author 🌻

I didn’t set out to write a book.

I set out to survive something I didn’t see coming.

My husband is a prostate cancer survivor.
So was my father.

We had just retired — ready to enjoy the freedom of a slower pace, to travel, and to start a new chapter together. Instead, we found ourselves navigating scans, surgeries, medical decisions, side effects, and fear.

I became the caregiver — often silently — while trying to hold on to the life we had just stepped into.

There weren’t many resources written for partners. Not the kind I needed. I didn’t want theory or statistics — I wanted something real. Something that spoke to what it felt like to carry both someone else’s pain and your own. Something that said, “You matter too.”

That’s why I wrote Standing Beside Him — to help others feel less invisible. Less unprepared. Less alone.

Before retirement, I spent 40 years working in government, human resources, and training/education. I’ve lived in Alaska, Florida, and now Washington State — where I garden, write, and try to offer what I wish I had when all of this began.

Still standing beside him. And now, standing beside you.

—Debra Othman
Caregiver, partner, and survivor 🌻