They were three beautiful, promising sisters - Mary, Fannie and Regina, young women during the pre-war depression. In a tragic twist of fate, all three were to be diagnosed with breast cancer. Fannie died first, a young mother of three, then in the next decade, Mary; while Regina struggled against her recurrent cancer until she was sixty-four. Told by Janet, Regina's daughter, Staying Alive is the story of sisters- their battle with what seemed an invincible foe and the toll it took on their personalities, their sisterhood, their marriages and their children, particularly their daughters who, too, were likely to be victims. At the centre is the intense relationship between Regina and Janet bound by love and a genetic curse- and ultimately, Janet's momentous and far-reaching decision to be free of it.