Posted 2/26/2008 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
Loren,
Wow, NY Times--talk about exposure!! Good for you!
My son is a senior in high school and for an English project they created a "Hero" book in which small groups would pick a person who has dealt with a serious condition whether it be medical/emotional etc and overcame it. Most stories were about overcoming cancer or divorce. My son chose my story and at first I was hesitant because I didn't want people to know everything that I had been through. But the more I thought about it, our disease is made worse because people don't want to hear about bloody stools, colons, and the horrors that we have all had to face usually alone without the people closest to us being able to understand. And all the hurdles that we have had to overcome and still go on day to day without most people knowing we have a problem at all. A story like ours needed to be told.
Through many interviews with me and my family, my son's group had to re-write and edit several times because the teacher thought that many of the symptoms were too "uncomfortable" for readers. My son argued with her saying that this is why it's so important to include because it is real and if she thought it was "uncomfortable" imagine living with it everyday! One of his friends mother read the story and cried. Anyway the book is due to come out in a couple months and I can't wait to see how it turns out.