Tag: chronic illness

Anticipated 2022 Releases by Disabled, Chronically Ill and Neurodivergent Authors

M.T.Wilson @ The Last Book on the LeftLeave a comment

As someone with a chronic illness, I am so excited to see how many books by disabled, chronically ill and neurodivergent authors are coming out this year and wanted to share a post with a few of the ones I’m looking forward to! Seeing good disability representation is so important, and it is great that more books by disabled authors are getting published, but there is still a long way for the publishing industry to go, as with many kinds of representation, in terms of good disability representation.

One for All by Lillie Lainoff (POTS rep)

A gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, in which a girl with a chronic illness trains as a Musketeer and uncovers secrets, sisterhood, and self-love.

Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand. Everyone in town thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl”; even her mother is desperate to marry her off for security. But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father—a former Musketeer and her greatest champion.

Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school. It’s a secret training ground for a new kind of Musketeer: women who are socialites on the surface, but strap daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a swordfight.

With her newfound sisters at her side, Tania feels for the first time like she has a purpose, like she belongs. But then she meets Étienne, her first target in uncovering a potential assassination plot. He’s kind, charming, and breathlessly attractive—and he might have information about what really happened to her father. Torn between duty and dizzying emotion, Tania will have to lean on her friends, listen to her own body, and decide where her loyalties lie…or risk losing everything she’s ever wanted.

This debut novel is a fierce, whirlwind adventure about the depth of found family, the strength that goes beyond the body, and the determination it takes to fight for what you love.

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You, Me, and Our Heartstrings by Melissa See (cerebral palsy & anxiety rep)

A fresh and fun teen romance starring a girl with cerebral palsy, and a boy with severe anxiety.

Daisy and Noah have the same plan: use the holiday concert to land a Julliard audition. But when they’re chosen to play a duet for the concert, they worry that their differences will sink their chances.

Noah, a cello prodigy from a long line of musicians, wants to stick to tradition. Daisy, a fiercely independent disabled violinist, is used to fighting for what she wants and likes to take risks. But the two surprise each other when they play. They fall perfectly in tune.

After their performance goes viral, the rest of the country falls for them just as surely as they’re falling for each other. But viral fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. No one seems to care about their talent or their music at all. People have rewritten their love story into one where Daisy is an inspiration for overcoming her cerebral palsy and Noah is a saint for seeing past it.

Daisy is tired of her disability being the only thing people see about her, and all of the attention sends Noah’s anxiety disorder into high speed. They can see their dream coming closer than it’s ever been before. But is the cost suddenly too high?

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Book Review: Gut Feelings by C. G. Moore

M.T.Wilson @ The Last Book on the Left4 Comments

Gut Feelings by C. G. Moore

Genre: Young Adult

Publishing Info: January 2021 by UCLan Publishing

Pages: 400

Star Rating: 5/5

Back Cover Summary:

At school, I learned that words,

More than weapons,

Could destroy bodies,

Could break hearts

More than fists or fury.

This is the story of Chris, what happened to him at age eleven and how that would change the rest of his life. A life-affirming and powerful coming of age verse novel that shines a light on chronic illness, who we are and how we live.

Gut Feelings is an own voices novel in verse based on the author’s own experiences of living with Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). FAP is an inherited disorder characterised by the rapid growth of small, pre-cancerous polyps in the large intestines.

I found reading this novel incredibly moving and cathartic as I recognised some of my own experiences of chronic illness reflected in the pages. Similarly to the narrator of the novel, Chris, I was diagnosed as chronically ill at a young age, when I was ten years old. There are so many parts of this book I could quote, but I chose just a few to include in this review that really resonated with me.

“This room is no place 
 For a child
 That wants to run and swim, 
 Bike his way 
 To the top of the hill. 
 I listen and obey
 As curtains close 
 Around me –
 Around my future.”

While the condition I have – Crohn’s disease – is a different condition to FAP, there is some overlap in symptoms and treatments as both affect the intestines. I could relate to the blood tests, the colonoscopies, the hospital visits, the surgery, the anxiety around having to rush to the toilet, of praying to make it through an exam, and issues of body image and scars. I could relate to the confusion and the fear of being faced with a diagnosis at such a young age.

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Living with Crohn’s Disease (Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week)

M.T.Wilson @ The Last Book on the Left8 Comments

This week is Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week so I’m going to be doing something a little different on my blog today. I don’t talk about personal things much on here, but I’m hoping by sharing my experiences of living with Crohn’s Disease it will help raise awareness.

There are a range of symptoms and not everyone’s experience of Crohn’s Disease is the same. This post will be explaining a bit about Crohn’s Disease and what my personal experience of the condition has been.

Most people I meet have never heard of Crohn’s Disease. According to Crohn’s & Colitis UK, it’s estimated that one in every 650 people in the UK are affected by Crohn’s Disease. But sadly it’s a misunderstood and often stigmatised condition.

Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis are the two main forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). They are chronic conditions that can be managed through various treatment options, including medication and surgery.  

Crohn’s Disease causes inflammation of the digestive system or gut. Symptoms vary from person to person, but include diarrhoea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, mouth ulcers, weight loss, anaemia, joint pain, as well as wider health complications. I’ve experienced all of these symptoms at various points in the last 15 years. You can find more detailed information about Crohn’s Disease on the Crohn’s & Colitis UK website.

Management of diet is also important for coping with Crohn’s Disease day-to-day for many people, although the extent food affects people seems to vary, and everyone has different foods they can and cannot tolerate. I can’t eat any whole grains or oats at all. While there are some foods I can eat in moderation with careful planning, for example cheese and chocolate.

I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease at the age of 9 and to be honest, I don’t really remember a time when I wasn’t ill. People are diagnosed at all stages of life, some in childhood, some in their teens, some in early adulthood, some later in life.

The condition is life-long, although there can be periods of relative wellness interspersed with flare ups. For me it’s been an endless cycle. I’ll be very unwell, then have a few months or years of being fairly well, and then have another flare up, over and over again in a cycle. Stress can be a trigger for flares, which has happened to me a couple of times. It’s important to remember that Crohn’s Disease doesn’t go away during those ‘good’ periods. I still suffer from bad fatigue, still have to be careful to avoid trigger foods, and sometimes still get symptoms.

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