ABOUT MELISSA
MY STORY
I had a lot of jobs in life starting at the age of 14. I filled grocery bags, played the drums in an all-girl heavy metal thrash band, sold lottery tickets, got a Master’s degree in counseling psychology, worked in a psychiatric emergency room, led various non-profit events, and ran group therapy. I settled in corporate America as a Domestic Operations Manager for just shy of 20 years in a profession that had nothing to do with my degree, traveling the country in limousines, airplanes and did a lot of fine dining. Sounds important, right? Or dysfunctional, you pick. Nothing could prepare me to watch my Mother die and suffer for eight months from ovarian cancer. No job, no fancy degree, no experience.
Like me, this book is eclectic. I call it a memoir/ self-help. My goal is to keep the promise that I made to my Mom, one late night in her hospital room while she was suffering yet another complication of the shit diagnosis of cancer.
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You will learn what my family learned the hard way while being by my Mother’s side the entire time. All of it. The mistakes, the emotion, false hope, the waits, and the love we all shared as a family unit at the most heartbreaking time of my life.
Each chapter represents every month from diagnosis to death, and lessons and tips to help you advocate for your loved ones through example, find your voice, and understand your rights in a very complicated, fucked up, and imperfect healthcare system.