What if you just finished the most exciting day of your life -- a thirty-year dream exploding into a spectacular reality -- then the next day you found out you were going to die? How would you feel? What would you do?

Lt. Commander Bill Goss, USN (Ret), lived the American Dream. Ever since he was a boy and heard about Chuck Yeager's historic flight, this hard-working man had dreams of breaking the sound barrier. Many things happened that could have defused his dream (including working as a garbage man), but Goss persevered...and twenty years after slinging his last trash can was strapped into the rear cockpit of a dual-seat F-18 Hornet ready to break the sound barrier. Bill Goss figured that this exhilarating flight would keep him on cloud nine for a very long time. He figured wrong. The next day he heard three of the most terrifying words in the English language: You have cancer.

This is Bill Goss's inspiring account of his triumph over a deadly form of skin cancer: his love for family and friends, his courage and pride, and most of all, his affection for a little bundle of fur that fell from a nest in an old oak tree. Turns out that this tiny flying squirrel, soon named Rocky, was just the right copilot for Goss. Whether nestled in the pocket of Goss's bathrobe or perched high upon his head, this little aviator helped his pilot navigate the ups and downs of cancer. He turned out to be the perfect distraction -- and the perfect little friend.

Writing with honesty, bravery, and humor, this former Navy pilot and father of twins shares the story of his all-out war on cancer, and his remarkable journey back to health.

Determined and sincere, Goss describes how his deep-seated connections to his family, to his friends, to nature, to his animals -- and especially to his "copilot," an injured baby flying squirrel named Rocky -- aided him in the enriching and unforgettable fight of his life.