After his wife blindsides him with a divorce, a devoted husband learns the next day that he has a rare and terminal cancer. Choosing to keep his diagnosis a secret from his family, he quietly navigates his treatment journey alone—until he finds unexpected friendship, humor, and healing in a quirky support group of fellow patients known as “Terminal Row.”

SYNOPSIS:

Mitchell Roberts is the almost perfect husband. He is a great dad, a loyal, loving and faithful husband to his wife, and makes a decent living as an insurance actuary, providing the statistical probability and risk of future events occurring (such as accidents or natural disasters.)

He believes he has a happy marriage and a happy life--until he finds out that his high powered executive wife (who makes more money than him and has a bigger position than him)--has been having an affair for the last year. She finally tells him about the affair one night after dinner, and that she wants a divorce. She thinks she is better than everyone and is in the upper echelon of people and that she deserves more---even though she loves her husband, and he absolutely adores her. His wife doesn’t want to freak the kids out and asks to please make it easy on everyone, especially the kids. Mitchell is distraught at her news, and can’t even process it.

Mitchell is a selfless person who loves his family and does not want to bring anyone any pain, even his wife, who just dealt him the worst news he ever received. Mitchell’s wife asks him to move out while they work through the divorce and tell the kids, and he reluctantly agrees, and gets himself a small apartment nearby

The next day, Mitchell goes to his annual routine physical that he had scheduled months earlier. His doctor runs routine blood work and also does a CT Scan, as Mitchell was complaining of a sore back muscle he hurt playing softball with his buddies a month earlier. A few days later, he gets the call from his doctor with a very concerned tone. He wants to see Mitchell in his office to talk to him right away. Mitchell questions him on the phone, but the doc just says, come on in as soon as you can. Mitchell is very busy with work, but realizes that something is up, so he leaves work to see the doc. He arrives at the medical building and is ushered right into his doctor’s office, where Doc is sitting stern faced. He tells Mitchell he has a mass on his liver that he believes is a rare form of melanoma on the liver. Doc explains exactly what it is, the immediate treatment that is needed, and the grim prognosis that comes with the disease. They talk odds, percentages, and have a very matter of fact but realistic conversation of what to expect.

The story then transitions into Mitchell’s journey as a cancer patient.

As Mitchell walks into the Cancer ward of the hospital on his first day of treatment. 5 "friends”, all of whom met in chemo, see him walk in for his first time, and recognize the familiar look on his face (fear, nervousness, hopelessness, etc) as the rookie who just found out he has cancer.

They observe him as he walks in. "Who's the new guy?" Let me guess.... married 2 kids, aged 7 and 10--stay at home trophy wife, and works as an auto executive." They guess who he is , what he does, and what his life is like for their own entertainment, even placing dollar bill bets to see who will be most accurate and what type of cancer he has.

On a serious note, they know full well what he's about to walk into and the journey he’ll begin. They know his feelings, what he is thinking, and what emotions he will experience next--as they have all experienced it themselves. The cast of characters are diverse" and call themselves “Terminal Row.”