Great love stories inspire us to seek passion in our own lives, to get in touch with our deepest core emotions, and make the world a little bit better -- what author and philanthropist Michael Murphy describes in the bittersweet memoir of his wife’s battle with metastatic breast cancer in LIVING IN COLOR: A Story of Love in Sickness and in Health (Ocean M. Press; October 12, 2021).

This is a love story like no other – and one in which the love keeps coming long after his wife’s passing, through a special foundation set up to provide low-income women with advanced cancer the resources they need for their healing and recovery.

Murphy was only six months into his unexpected love affair with his second wife, Margot, when he discovered a lump in her breast. For the next nine years she fought her cancer, armed with a fierce love for life. With Murphy by her side through the good, the bad, and the worst, Margot showed her husband how to truly live. “I left behind all my doubts, fears, and guilt because I knew that what I wanted most was to live in color,” Margot told Murphy.

Married to other people at the time, the Murphys’ relationship was sparked by a soul-deep sense of recognition when they first met, as if they knew one another before and were waiting to reconnect throughout lifetimes. This powerful sense of knowing buoyed them as they faced the challenges required for them to be together and uplifted them as Margot faced one medical crisis after another.

Murphy tells the story of their relationship and Margot’s fight for her life with engaging warmth, honesty and unflinching detail – taking himself to task for his past transgressions. By doing so, he shows how a relationship can grow past the obstacles in its path thanks to love and the willingness to work toward emotional maturity. “I’m different because Margot, in life and in death, taught me the true meaning of love, which is compassion and forgiveness. I am a much better man,” he says.

Helping others is the focus of Murphy’s life now. A visit with a single mom who also had stage 4 metastatic breast cancer inspired him to start the Love from Margot Foundation, which provides low-income women with advanced cancer the resources they need for their healing and recovery. To date, more than 200 women in California have been directly helped, with many more receiving assistance nationally. “I think about all the women I’m helping in her name, all the families that gain a few extra months, years, or even decades with their loved ones because we are able to provide support, and I look up to the heavens and smile,” Murphy says.

MIKE MURPHY is the author of Love Unfiltered, a Wall Street Journal bestseller. His mission is to share exactly how he has been able to co-create a life of freedom, abundance, purpose and love. He is the president and owner of Volkswagen Oakland and founder of the Love from Margot Foundation, which he established to honor his late wife. The foundation supports low-income women experiencing advanced cancer with emergency funds, education and resources needed for recovery. He is also the founder of Mountains of Hope, a transformational retreat center in Colombia, South America dedicated to delivering cutting-edge healing modalities to those who suffer from cancer, addiction and disconnectedness from life. He is also the creator of The Creation Frequency Online course dedicated to teaching people how to create the life of their dreams, his book of the same name was released in 2018. He has been interviewed by Larry King and other show hosts.

LIVING IN COLOR

A Story of Love in Sickness and in Health

By Michael Murphy

Ocean M. Press; October 12, 2021

$26.50; 214 pages

ISBN-10: ‎ 1512158569

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1512158564