cover image Voices of Multiple Sclerosis: The Healing Companion: Stories for Courage, Comfort and Strength

Voices of Multiple Sclerosis: The Healing Companion: Stories for Courage, Comfort and Strength

. LaChance Publishing LLC, $16.95 (179pp) ISBN 978-1-934184-08-0

After facing breast cancer, Debra LaChance founded The Healing Project and initiated her seven-part Voices Of series (Voices of Breast Cancer, Voices of Alzheimer's, etc.) to fulfill the need-her own included-for ""personal stories of those who had gone through this ordeal."" The latest begins with an overview of multiple sclerosis by medical doctor John Richert, followed by 34 diverse voices of patients, as well as their spouses and children. California academic Jodene Kersten writes about her mother, born in a Japanese-American relocation camp during WWII and diagnosed with MS when she was 18, but who raised two children and pursued a career as a nurse. Gerald Chalmers writes about the physical and emotional obstacles, admitting that he refused a wheelchair for years because ""it screamed 'disability,'"" only to find it radically improved his life. Addressing all aspects of life with disease-diagnosis, diet, exercise, laughter, stigma, support, family and friends, acceptance, treatment, and the promise of new and better treatment-this is an honest collection that will provide great context and practical advice for patients and their loved ones.