In 2004 she married former restaurant owner Silvano Marchetto. Three weeks before the wedding Marchetto was diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite her diagnosis, the wedding went as planned, and she began her treatments. She used her diagnosis of breast cancer as an inspiration for her popular graphic memoir "Cancer Vixen." While undergoing chemotherapy, surgeries, and radiation treatments, she chose to refer to herself as a "cancer vixen" rather than a "cancer victim." Marchetto drew about her life with breast cancer which eventually led to her popular graphic memoir "Cancer Vixen".