Lightening the Shadow
COVID-19 long haulers, you need to read this book!

Lightening the Shadow
Imagine that just as your adult life is starting, what starts as a cold leads to inability to concentrate, digestive problems, and muscle twitches. You feel like you're fifty years older and unplugged in crushing darkness. How do you rebuild your life and remain useful to others?

Lightening the Shadow: Diagnosing and Learning to Live with an Invisible Chronic Illness is my memoir. By sharing my experiences and lessons learned, I mean to shine a light for my fellow patients and people without diagnoses and to enlighten healthy people, especially doctors, about my particular illness.

Buy the book from www.amazon.com/Lightening-Shadow-Diagnosing-Invisible-Chronic/dp/069214949X or another online bookseller, CMU Bookstore, or Bueche's in Flushing. Excerpts have been published in Patient Voice, Breath & Shadow, and Forward in Christ. To learn more, please email me and read my blog, where I sometimes share parts of the book that enlighten readers.

"Filled with wisdom, practical advice, and a detailed illustration of what patients experience."
​—Leonard A. Jason, PhD, Professor of Psychology, DePaul University​

This is a top book for people with long COVID. Review it on Goodreads!

Thanks to Michael Brady Designs for the cover design and ebook launch for the quick, affordable creation of the e-book version!

NEW: I'm now writing a novel, tentatively titled The Sisterhood of Motherhood, with a protagonist who pursues surrogacy for her sister-in-law and brother. Watch the blog for updates!

Resources for People Who Have ME/CFS
or Fibromyalgia

    Get your free tip sheet on living with a chronic illness!
    Get a sneak peek at the core of the book. Then I'll email you quarterly with new patient resources or new blog posts. I have neither the desire nor the energy to do anything else with your email address, so I promise it's safe with me. See some of the other resources that have helped me below.
Campbell, Bruce, and Charles Lapp. Treating CFS/FM Self-Study. Online course. Accessed May 16, 2020. http://www.cfidsselfhelp.org/online-courses/treating-cfs-fm-self-study.

Murphree, Rodger H. Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 5th ed. Birmingham, AL: Harrison and Hampton Publishing, 2013. (Disclosure: I copyedited this edition.)

MEPedia. http://me-pedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_MEpedia.

Solve ME/CFS Initiative. https://solvecfs.org/.

Verrillo, Erica F. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Treatment Guide. 2nd ed. Williamsburg, MA: Erica F. Verrillo, 2012.