Illness and death are universal challenges, but not something we anticipate in our 30s. Kate Bowler and Lucy Kalanithi understand that any of us can confront these harsh realities at any time. Bowler was 35 when she was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. She tried to make sense of it in Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved. Kalanithi, an internal medicine doctor, completed her husband Paul’s manuscript, When Breath Becomes Air, after the neurosurgeon died of lung cancer at the age of 37. The two women discuss life, death, and the pursuit of humanity in American health care.