Rutter, silver haired but schoolboy youthful in a button-down shirt and a sweater, has the quiet intensity of all good therapists. He spoke of his beloved’s ordeal in Jungian terms.
A stem cell transplant is a profound identity shift, he said. “The miracle, and the trauma, in crossing over from death to life is of equal stature to a heart transplant. The simplest way to explain it is Delia was restored to herself, but she had to go through the gates of death to do it. It deepens anybody who has been close to that.”
Ephron shrugged. “You end up in the situation, and you just do what you do.”
Rutter said gently, “Actually Delia, that is the essence of being heroic. You persist even if it seems impossible.”
--Green, Penelope. "Delia Ephron Writes Her Way Through Cancer to a Happy Ending." New York Times. April 9, 2022.