"Gifts from an Oak Tree" is a memoir that begins with recollections of the author's childhood days during the 1960s and '70s growing up in the backwoods of Central Wisconsin. She has now realized that those hard times in her past had purpose, as they've helped her to endure an ongoing battle with ovarian cancer, the subject of the second half of this memoir. In a youth faced with poverty and low self esteem, perhaps not unlike many rural families, life was rough but times were so much simpler. Kay's father, a veteran of WWII, loved his beer, and her mother lost her battle with breast cancer in 1973. Huddling around the wood stove to stay warm in winter in a little tar paper shack called home, Kay often felt as though her family never quite fit in with the world around them due to her families backward ways. When diagnosed with cancer herself, three years ago, Kay felt a new sense of closeness with her mother even though she'd been gone for more than forty years. By sharing her story and the simple ways that she has found to cope with life's uncertainties, the author would like to help others who are dealing with life threatening illnesses today and hardships from their youth. Nature surrounds the authors rural Wisconsin home today and has helped her heal, and feel a sense of appreciation for oak trees, dragonflies, whirlwinds, and unremarkable CT scans.