Download or read book Life After My Mother s Stroke written by Tashi Hansen du Toit and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-03-30 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tashi Hansen du Toit was 15 years old when her mother, Karen, suffered a severe haemorrhagic stroke which left her with multiple physical and cognitive impairments. This beautifully written and poignant account tells Tashi’s story from the first moments after her mother’s stroke, following her and her family through the experience of her mother’s hospitalisation and rehabilitation. Tashi offers a rare glimpse into the impact of her mother’s stroke on her family and on her life as a teenager as she juggles the stresses and demands of family, school, and friends alongside coping with her mother’s brain injury. As she describes how she is learning to cope with her unresolved grief three years on, she provides hope, perspective, and insight on how to work towards growth and acceptance despite the catastrophe of a parent’s stroke. Presenting the rarely heard adolescent perspective on parental brain injury, Tashi’s moving story also features Karen’s account as she comes to terms with her experience. This authentic book offers great support to others, particularly teenagers, who may be going through a similar experience. It is also valuable reading for those working in brain injury services and the education system, and for any professional or student involved in neurorehabilitation or supporting families of parents with brain injury.

Download or read book Hope Heals written by Katherine Wolf and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2016-04-26 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When all seems lost, where can you find hope? Katherine and Jay Wolf married right after college and sought adventure far from home in Los Angeles, CA. As they pursued their dreams--she as a model and he as a lawyer--they planted their lives in the city and their church community. Their son, James, came along unexpectedly in the fall of 2007, and just six months later, everything changed in a moment for this young family. On April 21, 2008, as James slept in the other room, Katherine collapsed, suffering a massive brain stem stroke without warning. Miraculously, Jay came home in time and called for help. Katherine was immediately rushed into brain surgery, though her chance of survival was slim. As the sun rose the next morning, the surgeon proclaimed that Katherine had survived the removal of part of her brain, though her future recovery was uncertain. Yet in that moment, there was a spark of hope. Through forty days on life support in the ICU and nearly two years in full-time brain rehab, that small spark of hope was fanned into flame. Hope Heals documents Katherine and Jay's journey as they struggled to regain Katherine's quality of life and as she relearned to talk, eat, and walk. As Katherine returned home with a severely disabled body but a completely renewed purpose, she and Jay committed to celebrating this gift of a second chance by embracing life fully, even though that life looked very different than they could have ever imagined. As you uncover Katherine and Jay's remarkable story, you'll be encouraged to: Find lasting hope in the midst of struggle Embrace the unexpected Welcome God's miracles into your everyday life In the midst of continuing hardships, both in body and mind, Katherine and Jay found what we all long to find: a hope that heals the most broken place--our souls. Let Hope Heals be your guide along the way. Praise for Hope Heals: "As I read this book, tears streamed from my eyes even as joy flooded my heart. Jay and Katherine are a raw yet refreshing testimony to the unshakable trustworthiness of God amidst the unimaginable trials of life. This book reminds all of us where hope can be found in a world where none of us know what the next day holds." --David Platt, author of the New York Times bestseller Radical and president of the International Mission Board "Hope Heals is a beautiful, true story that illustrates the love and protection God has for us even in the darkest times of our lives. Katherine and Jay's dedication to each other and the Lord through their most devastating season is inspiring. This book will help your heart believe that He sees, He knows, He cares, and He is still working miracles today!" --Lysa TerKeurst, New York Times bestselling author and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries

Download or read book Reclaiming Joy written by Ella Wall Prichard and published by 1845 Books. This book was released on 2018 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nearly a million women are widowed each year in the United States. Hardly anyone is prepared for the days, months, and years that follow the loss. New widows grieve, but they also battle psychological, spiritual, and social upheaval from all directions. From discovering a new identity to finding different ways to relate to old friends, life becomes unfamiliar. Practical changes--both legal and financial--are inevitable. Just as there's no simple prescription that makes grief disappear, there is no clear way to address all the challenges widows face. In Reclaiming Joy: A Primer for Widows, Ella Wall Prichard writes the book she needed, but could not find, after her husband died. She recounts her turn to the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians, a letter that features joy as a source of comfort and hope--and that shapes Reclaiming Joy. Prichard offers practical advice on how to achieve joy. Each chapter focuses on a different trait needed to move from grief to joy. The primary narrative arc is spiritual, even though stories of struggle, conflict, and loss are recurrent themes. Reclaiming Joy is part memoir, part guide, part inspiration. It captures the pain felt in the first years of widowhood in the move from grief to joy. It offers encouragement and advice to women who seek the strength to rebuild their lives and reclaim their joy.

Download or read book My Stroke of Insight written by Jill Bolte Taylor and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-05-12 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Transformative...[Taylor's] experience...will shatter [your] own perception of the world."—ABC News The astonishing New York Times bestseller that chronicles how a brain scientist's own stroke led to enlightenment On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven- year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist experienced a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. As she observed her mind deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life-all within four hours-Taylor alternated between the euphoria of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace, and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized she was having a stroke and enabled her to seek help before she was completely lost. It would take her eight years to fully recover. For Taylor, her stroke was a blessing and a revelation. It taught her that by "stepping to the right" of our left brains, we can uncover feelings of well-being that are often sidelined by "brain chatter." Reaching wide audiences through her talk at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference and her appearance on Oprah's online Soul Series, Taylor provides a valuable recovery guide for those touched by brain injury and an inspiring testimony that inner peace is accessible to anyone.

Download or read book Ambiguous Loss written by Pauline BOSS and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a loved one dies we mourn our loss. We take comfort in the rituals that mark the passing, and we turn to those around us for support. But what happens when there is no closure, when a family member or a friend who may be still alive is lost to us nonetheless? How, for example, does the mother whose soldier son is missing in action, or the family of an Alzheimer's patient who is suffering from severe dementia, deal with the uncertainty surrounding this kind of loss? In this sensitive and lucid account, Pauline Boss explains that, all too often, those confronted with such ambiguous loss fluctuate between hope and hopelessness. Suffered too long, these emotions can deaden feeling and make it impossible for people to move on with their lives. Yet the central message of this book is that they can move on. Drawing on her research and clinical experience, Boss suggests strategies that can cushion the pain and help families come to terms with their grief. Her work features the heartening narratives of those who cope with ambiguous loss and manage to leave their sadness behind, including those who have lost family members to divorce, immigration, adoption, chronic mental illness, and brain injury. With its message of hope, this eloquent book offers guidance and understanding to those struggling to regain their lives. Table of Contents: 1. Frozen Grief 2. Leaving without Goodbye 3. Goodbye without Leaving 4. Mixed Emotions 5. Ups and Downs 6. The Family Gamble 7. The Turning Point 8. Making Sense out of Ambiguity 9. The Benefit of a Doubt Notes Acknowledgments Reviews of this book: You will find yourself thinking about the issues discussed in this book long after you put it down and perhaps wishing you had extra copies for friends and family members who might benefit from knowing that their sorrows are not unique...This book's value lies in its giving a name to a force many of us will confront--sadly, more than once--and providing personal stories based on 20 years of interviews and research. --Pamela Gerhardt, Washington Post Reviews of this book: A compassionate exploration of the effects of ambiguous loss and how those experiencing it handle this most devastating of losses ... Boss's approach is to encourage families to talk together, to reach a consensus about how to mourn that which has been lost and how to celebrate that which remains. Her simple stories of families doing just that contain lessons for all. Insightful, practical, and refreshingly free of psychobabble. --Kirkus Review Reviews of this book: Engagingly written and richly rewarding, this title presents what Boss has learned from many years of treating individuals and families suffering from uncertain or incomplete loss...The obvious depth of the author's understanding of sufferers of ambiguous loss and the facility with which she communicates that understanding make this a book to be recommended. --R. R. Cornellius, Choice Reviews of this book: Written for a wide readership, the concepts of ambiguous loss take immediate form through the many provocative examples and stories Boss includes, All readers will find stories with which they will relate...Sensitive, grounded and practical, this book should, in my estimation, be required reading for family practitioners. --Ted Bowman, Family Forum Reviews of this book: Dr. Boss describes [the] all-too-common phenomenon [of unresolved grief] as resulting from either of two circumstances: when the lost person is still physically present but emotionally absent or when the lost person is physically absent but still emotionally present. In addition to senility, physical presence but psychological absence may result, for example, when a person is suffering from a serious mental disorder like schizophrenia or depression or debilitating neurological damage from an accident or severe stroke, when a person abuses drugs or alcohol, when a child is autistic or when a spouse is a workaholic who is not really 'there' even when he or she is at home...Cases of physical absence with continuing psychological presence typically occur when a soldier is missing in action, when a child disappears and is not found, when a former lover or spouse is still very much missed, when a child 'loses' a parent to divorce or when people are separated from their loved ones by immigration...Professionals familiar with Dr. Boss's work emphasised that people suffering from ambiguous loss were not mentally ill, but were just stuck and needed help getting past the barrier or unresolved grief so that they could get on with their lives. --Asian Age Combining her talents as a compassionate family therapist and a creative researcher, Pauline Boss eloquently shows the many and complex ways that people can cope with the inevitable losses in contemporary family life. A wise book, and certain to become a classic. --Constance R. Ahrons, author of The Good Divorce A powerful and healing book. Families experiencing ambiguous loss will find strategies for seeing what aspects of their loved ones remain, and for understanding and grieving what they have lost. Pauline Boss offers us both insight and clarity. --Kathy Weingarten, Ph.D, The Family Institute of Cambridge, Harvard Medical School

Download or read book Unforgettable written by Scott Simon and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A moving memoir about NPR host Scott Simon's connection to his mother—inspired by the popular tweets he shared during her death.

Download or read book Money School written by Lacey Filipich and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Time poor’ is the catch-cry of our era, and yet end-of-life retirement means we have an average of two decades of feeling time rich to look forward to . . . when we’re old. How arse-about is that? But there is an alternative to working your butt off for decades and retiring when you’re worn out: it’s called financial independence, and it means being able to cover life’s essentials and afford the luxuries you want without having to turn up to a job each day. Imagine: the freedom and flexibility to work if, when and where you like, go travelling, spend time with family or start that business you’ve been dreaming of. And with enough time and a way to earn, it’s achievable for most people through the power of passive income. Lacey Filipich knows because she’s done it herself – and has been teaching the strategies and steps for financial independence for a decade through her education company, Money School. Now, she’ll teach you all her tried-and-true lessons for redesigning your personal finances to create the life you really want. From maximising your income and cutting costs without big sacrifice, to property, shares and retirement funds, Money School explains exactly how to build a passive income that will completely change your life. Take control of how you spend your time and money to make them work for you – and get on the fast track to being financially independent and time rich.

Download or read book Mom Had a Stroke written by Delanie L. Stephenson and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2016-01-03 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Katie, a six-year-old girl, loved her life. She had everything she needed: a house in the country with pets, a devoted family, and a fun-loving mom who would do anything for her. Katie had no worries. But, unexpectedly near the end of her kindergarten school year, her mother suffered a life-altering stroke. Katies mom transitioned from a happy-go-lucky mom to one who lost her ability to walk and talk. For the first time in her life, Katie was really scared and worried what was going to happen to her mother. Although Katie lost her old mom, she gained a new mom who turned out to be very different. Life was altered from what it once was, but it wasnt so bad because through it all, Katie was lucky to have her mom. A book for children, Mom Had a Stroke explores how one little girl felt as she learned to accept and adjust to a new mom with physical challenges, and how, over time, they began to experience happiness as a family again.

Download or read book Open to Hope written by Gloria Horsley and published by Open to Hope. This book was released on 2018-08-15 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether a death is sudden or anticipated, losing a loved one shakes us to our very core, destroying our belief in a just, safe, and predictable world. Grief often changes us quickly both physically and mentally. It is like being kidnapped and suddenly transported to a foreign land without luggage, a passport, or the language to make sense of what's happening. Even if you have a road map for getting through the pain and anguish, you still have to take the trip. The purpose of this book is to help you find threads of hope that will assist your recovery and help you carry on. By sharing inspirational stories, personal experiences, and professional advice from contributors to theOpen to Hope website, we trust that you will be comforted and inspired by learning how others dealt with their losses, what they saw as roadblocks, and how they handled them as well as what it has taken for them to not only survive, but thrive. We want to help you resume leading the life that you were meant to live--a life of satisfaction and one driven by a belief in your own personal power for change.

Download or read book Grieving the Death of a Mother written by Harold Ivan Smith and published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers. This book was released on 2024-07-16 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by grief counselor Harold Ivan Smith, this book is for those who have loved and lost their mom. Drawing on personal and professional experience, Smith guides readers through grief, from death to burial to honoring the memory of their mother.

Download or read book Too Much Loss Coping with Grief Overload written by Alan Wolfelt and published by Companion Press. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Coping with My Mother s Stroke written by Berlinda A. Hart Love and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2011-11-07 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book has been written for anyone who has become a caregiver at a moments notice, and to say thank you to the many people who reached out to help her family in the time of need. It is intended to be a guide, but not a cure-all. She speaks with a voice of integrity and understanding and included in these pearls of wisdom are successful strategies used to care for her mother, whose acute stroke left her with a severe case of aphasia and apraxia and the inability to walk. Also, her father has been diagnosed with orthostatic hypotension. Her belief is that miracles can happen in the midst of trouble and that all it takes is tender loving care to make them happen. She is the recipient of the Master of Divinity Degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. In addition, she is an itinerant elder and has pastored in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, First Episcopal District.

Download or read book Modern Loss written by Rebecca Soffer and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-01-23 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired by the website that the New York Times hailed as "redefining mourning," this book is a fresh and irreverent examination into navigating grief and resilience in the age of social media, offering comfort and community for coping with the mess of loss through candid original essays from a variety of voices, accompanied by gorgeous two-color illustrations and wry infographics. At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags, where intimate posts about loss go viral and we receive automated birthday reminders for dead friends, it’s clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map. Let’s face it: most of us have always had a difficult time talking about death and sharing our grief. We’re awkward and uncertain; we avoid, ignore, or even deny feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit. Enter Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner, who can help us do better. Each having lost parents as young adults, they co-founded Modern Loss, responding to a need to change the dialogue around the messy experience of grief. Now, in this wise and often funny book, they offer the insights of the Modern Loss community to help us cry, laugh, grieve, identify, and—above all—empathize. Soffer and Birkner, along with forty guest contributors including Lucy Kalanithi, singer Amanda Palmer, and CNN’s Brian Stelter, reveal their own stories on a wide range of topics including triggers, sex, secrets, and inheritance. Accompanied by beautiful hand-drawn illustrations and witty "how to" cartoons, each contribution provides a unique perspective on loss as well as a remarkable life-affirming message. Brutally honest and inspiring, Modern Loss invites us to talk intimately and humorously about grief, helping us confront the humanity (and mortality) we all share. Beginners welcome.

Download or read book Children s Past Lives written by Carol Bowman and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Has your child lived before? In this fascinating, controversial, and groundbreaking book, Carol Bowman reveals overwhelming evidence of past life memories in children. Not only are such experiences real, they are far more common than most people realize. Bowman's extraordinary investigation was sparked when her young son, Chase, described his own past-life death on a Civil War battlefield--an account so accurate it was authenticated by an expert historian. Even more astonishing, Chase's chronic eczema and phobia of loud noises completely disappeared after he had the memory. Inspired by Chase's dramatic healing, Bowman compiled dozens of cases and wrote this comprehensive study to explain how very young children remember their past lives, spontaneously and naturally. In Children's Past Lives, she tells how to distinguish between a true past life memory and a fantasy, offers practical advice to parents on how to respond to a past life memory, and shows how to foster the spiritual and healing benefits of these experiences. Perhaps the most moving, convincing, and best-documented evidence yet for life after death, Children's Past Lives will stand alongside the classics of Betty J. Eadie, Raymond Moody, and Brian Weiss in its power to comfort, uplift, and transform our thinking about life after death

Download or read book Unexpecting written by Rachel Lewis and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2021-08-10 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What to Expect When You're No Longer Expecting When your baby dies, you find yourself in a life you never expected. And even though pregnancy and infant loss are common, they're not common to you. Instead, you feel like a stranger in your own body, surrounded by well-meaning people who often don't know how to support you. What you need during this time is not a book offering easy answers. You need a safe place to help you navigate what comes next, such as: · Coping with a postpartum body without a baby in your arms. · Facing social isolation and grief invalidation. · Wrestling with faith when you feel let down by God. · Dealing with the overwhelming process of making everyday decisions. · Learning to move forward after loss. · Creating a legacy for your child. In Unexpecting, bereaved mom Rachel Lewis is the friend you never knew you'd need, walking you through the unique grief of baby loss. When nothing about life after loss makes sense . . . this book will. "The guide that all parents experiencing pregnancy loss need when leaving the hospital grief-stricken, without a baby in their arms."--LINDSEY M. HENKE, founder of Pregnancy After Loss Support

Download or read book The Art of Dying Well written by Katy Butler and published by Scribner. This book was released on 2020-02-11 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “comforting…thoughtful” (The Washington Post) guide to maintaining a high quality of life—from resilient old age to the first inklings of a serious illness to the final breath—by the New York Times bestselling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door is a “roadmap to the end that combines medical, practical, and spiritual guidance” (The Boston Globe). “A common sense path to define what a ‘good’ death looks like” (USA TODAY), The Art of Dying Well is about living as well as possible for as long as possible and adapting successfully to change. Packed with extraordinarily helpful insights and inspiring true stories, award-winning journalist Katy Butler shows how to thrive in later life (even when coping with a chronic medical condition), how to get the best from our health system, and how to make your own “good death” more likely. Butler explains how to successfully age in place, why to pick a younger doctor and how to have an honest conversation with them, when not to call 911, and how to make your death a sacred rite of passage rather than a medical event. This handbook of preparations—practical, communal, physical, and spiritual—will help you make the most of your remaining time, be it decades, years, or months. Based on Butler’s experience caring for aging parents, and hundreds of interviews with people who have successfully navigated our fragmented health system and helped their loved ones have good deaths, The Art of Dying Well also draws on the expertise of national leaders in family medicine, palliative care, geriatrics, oncology, and hospice. This “empowering guide clearly outlines the steps necessary to prepare for a beautiful death without fear” (Shelf Awareness).

Download or read book Surviving Alzheimer s With Friends Facebook and a Really Big Glass of Wine written by Dayna Steele and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-02-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With unfiltered observations and sometimes dark humor, author Dayna Steele chronicled her mother's journey with Alzheimer's on Facebook. This collection of Alzheimer's updates posted on the social media network includes biting humor and raw emotion as Dayna carries you from the diagnosis to the inevitable end. Also included are sections from a neurologist, Long Term Care insurance specialist, other caregivers, documents expert, elder care attorney, and an assisted living advisor. This is a journey way too many of us are going to experience in one way or another. If you have to experience Alzheimer's and chances are you will - do it like Dayna with love, wit, and wine.I would normally never read a book about Alzheimer's or click LIKE on a Facebook post about someone's declining mother. Dayna Steele sneaked past my defenses the same way that she dealt with her own misery - with humor - by making me laugh, she managed to break my heart. --Lisa Gray, Houston Chronicle Gray MattersThese observations are so gripping and so graphic. --a Facebook commentThis book is going to be of tremendous help to so many. --Dr. Roy Goldberg, Geriatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine