Debi Nieto is a mother, Army veteran, cancer advocate, real estate professional and nonprofit cofounder; now, the San Antonio powerhouse can claim yet another title: author. In her self-published memoir, Grace in the Fire: A Cancer Mom Turned Fighter, Nieto chronicles her son’s journey with an aggressive and rare bone cancer, an experience that turned her toward cancer advocacy and service. Years later, her son is cancer-free, but Nieto is battling multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer.

 

“My journey wasn’t easy, but if sharing it helps even one family feel less alone, it’s worth it,” Nieto posted on Instagram last week ahead of a book-signing event.

 

Nieto’s son, Noah Adams, was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma at the height of the pandemic in 2020, which led him to launch—with Nieto’s help—the Stay Strong Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to serving children and families facing pediatric cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. For the nonprofit’s initiative In Care of Noah, or I.C.O.N. Shirts, Nieto sews zippers into shirts of all sizes for kids who are receiving chemotherapy through a port.

 

Two years after her son’s miraculous recovery, Nieto was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood and bone marrow cancer. Throughout her treatment, she continues to lead the nonprofit, sew chemotherapy shirts for children and tell her story. Her self-published book is an inspiring tale of hope and grief.

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In announcing the book’s publication, Nieto wrote on Instagram:

For the longest time, this story lived inside my heart—in the quiet moments, the hard moments, the victorious moments, and the moments I never imagined I’d survive. It’s the story of being a cancer mom…and then becoming a fighter myself. It’s the story of Noah’s bravery, our family’s battles, our angels in scrubs, our community, and the grace God placed over every fire we walked through.

 

And today…I finally get to say the words I never thought I’d say out loud:

I wrote a book. 

It took tears, prayer, courage, and a whole lot of revisiting wounds I thought had healed. But I wrote it—for the families walking this journey, for the mamas praying for strength, for the caregivers who pour from empty cups, and for anyone who needs to be reminded that even in the fire, there is grace.

“Whatever your diagnosis is, whatever your situation is, that is not who you are,” Nieto said in an interview with local news KSAT 12. “You are more than that.”

 

Grace in the Fire: A Cancer Mom Turned Fighter will be available on Amazon February 1.

 

To read a collection of similar articles in Cancer Health, click #Memoir. Also check out our Can Heal column titled “The Write Cancer Treatment With Author Emily Rubin” and read her first-person essay for our fall 2025 cover story: “After 15 Years in the Clear, Breast Cancer Strikes Again!”