After only a year of marriage, Pavel Ythjall found himself staring into the eyes of a neurosurgeon who told him point-blank: "Your wife will be paralyzed, neck down, for life." At the time, Pavel had a broken neck too. His vertebrae were supported by a halo screwed directly into his skull. A tragic accident on the way to a Christmas party had changed their lives forever. They had no family to help them. The doctor predicted Kat would find a way to kill herself, despite the paralysis. As reality sank in, everyone thought Pavel would leave her. But he was their only hope of discovering a new way to move forward-together. A beautiful, heart-wrenching story of trauma, love, grace, and the ultimate meaning of life, True Love and Suffering was born from the global movement around Pavel and Kat's incredible journey. Join thousands around the world who have discovered their own strength, resilience, and hope for true love through the inspiring lives of these two heroes.
“. . . an engaging exploration of duty, guilt, and self-preservation. . . . A cleareyed consideration of difficult ethical and familial choices.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS Rachel likes to think of herself as a nice Jewish girl, dedicated to doing what’s honorable, just as her parents raised her to do. But when her husband, David, survives a plane crash and is left with severe brain damage, she faces a choice: will she dedicate her life to caring for a man she no longer loves, or walk away? Their marriage had been rocky at the time of the accident, and though she wants to do the right thing, Rachel doesn’t know how she is supposed to care for two kids in addition to a now irrational, incontinent, and seizure-prone grown man. And how will she manage to see her lover? But then again, what kind of selfish monster would refuse to care for her disabled husband, no matter how unhappy her marriage had been? Rachel wants to believe that she can dedicate her life to David’s needs, but knows in her heart it is impossible. Crash tackles a pervasive dilemma in our culture: the moral conflicts individuals face when caregiving for a disabled or cognitively impaired family member.
The despair that befalls a family when one of its own is forever changed by illness or tragedy is an experience we can only hope to escape. A serious accident, stroke, terminal illness, or more can cause stress and sorrow that are often unbearable. But we dont get to choose from a menu of life lessons. We simply wake up one day to them sitting on our plate. The question then becomes: What do you do? Daybreak jogs, PTA meetings, church choir rehearsals, laughter, and family timethese were the basic ingredients of Robert and Theresa Lees life together. Then, at age forty-three, Theresa was diagnosed with ALS. With raw honesty and grace, Robert chronicles the inspiring story of his late wifes twelve-year dance with the disease, his role as her caregiver, and the highs and lows ALS took their marriage through. A touching memoir filled with moments of lightheartedness, wisdom and simple humanity, readers will be uplifted by this brave couples tale of unconditional love and their ultimate message: You are not alone. Life is a never-ending teacher of lessons. The question is, Are we paying attention? In 2002, my life, which all along had been filled with many of these blessings-lessonsor blessons as I called thempresented the greatest challenge my family and I would have to face yet. Robert Lee, author
Tragically, in her teens, Emily Owen was diagnosed as suffering from NF2. Despite this she has coped with everything she has been through due to her strong faith, her supportive family and indomitable personality. Still Emily describes the years of gradual loss of the facilities that defined her life and her gradual re-evaluation of her life plans.
Grief overload is what you feel when you experience too many significant losses all at once, in a relatively short period of time, or cumulatively. In addition to the deaths of loved ones, such losses can also include divorce, estrangement, illness, relocation, job changes, and more. Our minds and hearts have enough trouble coping with a single loss, so when the losses pile up, the grief often seems especially chaotic and defeating. The good news is that through intentional, active mourning, you can and will find your way back to hope and healing. This compassionate guide will show you how.
"It is a unique experience to read a book that speaks directly to your heart. If you live with a rare life altering disease, you spend a lot of time in your head. It's hard to put the thoughts into words. In Bedtime Stories for the Living, Jay Armstrong accurately articulates the thoughts of any person living with a rare disease or anyone simply struggling to overcome their challenges." Kyle Bryant, spokesperson for the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance and host of the Two Disabled Dudes podcast. A regular dad. A rare brain disease. A chance to live forever. A cell phone's ring interrupts the silence as Jay Armstrong sits in his high school classroom preparing for the year ahead. Something about the ring makes his stomach drop. It's his doctor. The words, "diffuse cerebellar atrophy, a rare, degenerative brain disease" float through the speaker. All of Jay's youthful dreams of being a writer rush back, flooding the twenty years he has spent teaching students how to appreciate novels, memoirs, and poetry. The care he put into teaching them how to write with clarity, insight, and humor, and how to dance at the prom. The bedtime stories he never told his children spin in his imagination. It will all die when he dies. Bedtime Stories for the Living is an episodic memoir in which Jay shows his children how to accept their limitations and find joy. The collection of tender, witty stories about fatherhood, persevering despite illness, and pursuing your dreams, demonstrates how love gives us the strength to face heartache with bravery, humor, and grace. Reviews: "Jay Armstrong is a wonderful storyteller. I knew this the moment he joined me on my podcast. I'm thrilled to see that his storytelling translates to the page and his book is filled with stories. Jay shares stories of his challenges, his triumphs and his medical journey. I'm so glad he continues to share his stories." Jesse Jackson, Host of the Set Lusting Bruce podcast "Jay Armstrong's debut, Bedtime Stories for the Living, is part memoir, part confession, and a love letter for his children. Cataclysmic news - a hole in his brain, a rare and poorly understood condition, steady loss of motor skills and speech obstructing his desire to share in each activity with his young children - haunt each page, woven into the prism of sundry fleeting moments. Yet here, these earthy glimpses are charged with mystery, and the holiness of love. Jay's book is about the quandary of fear and suffering that face
When readers first meet Ben, he is a sweet, intelligent, seemingly well-adjusted youngster. Fast forward to his teenage years, though, and Ben's life has spun out of control. Ben is swept along by an illness over which he has no control—one that results in runaway episodes, periods of homelessness, seven psychotic breaks, seven hospitalizations, and finally a diagnosis and treatment plan that begins to work. Schizophrenia strikes an estimated one in a hundred people worldwide by some estimates, and yet understanding of the illness is lacking. Through Ben's experiences, and those of his mother and sister, who supported Ben through every stage of his illness and treatment, readers gain a better understanding of schizophrenia, as well as mental illness in general, and the way it affects individuals and families. Here, Kaye encourages families to stay together and find strength while accepting the reality of a loved one's illness; she illustrates, through her experiences as Ben's mother, the delicate balance between letting go and staying involved. She honors the courage of anyone who suffers with mental illness and is trying to improve his life and participate in his own recovery. Ben Behind His Voices also reminds professionals in the psychiatric field that every patient who comes through their doors has a life, one that he has lost through no fault of his own. It shows what goes right when professionals treat the family as part of the recovery process and help them find support, education, and acceptance. And it reminds readers that those who suffer from mental illness, and their families, deserve respect, concern, and dignity.
A woman discovers her marriage is built on an illusion in this harrowing and ultimately inspiring memoir. “Be forewarned: You won’t sleep until you finish the last page.”—Caroline Leavitt, author of Cruel Beautiful World One night. One email. Two realities... Before: Jen Waite has met the partner of her dreams. A handsome, loving man who becomes part of her family, evolving into her husband, her best friend, and the father of her infant daughter. After: A disturbing email sparks suspicion, leading to an investigation of who this man really is and what was really happening in their marriage. In alternating Before and After chapters, Waite obsessively analyzes her relationship, trying to find a single moment form the past five years that isn't part of the long con of lies and manipulation. Instead, she finds more lies, infidelity, and betrayal than she could have imagined. With the pacing and twists of a psychological thriller, A Beautiful, Terrible Thing looks at how a fairy tale can become a nightmare and what happens when “it could never happen to me” actually does.
"Built on her ... Modern Love column, 'When a Couch is More Than a Couch' (9/23/2016), a ... memoir of living meaningfully with 'death in the room' by the 38-year-old great-great-great granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson--mother to two young boys, wife of 16 years--after her terminal cancer diagnosis"--
A heartfelt memoir that takes the reader on a 20 year journey with a family that has been thrown into chaos from a catastrophic injury. Alex Kiejdan, a husband and father of two babies, is bodysurfing at the Jersey shore but is swept up in shore break which leaves him paralyzed from the chest down.
