Dealin g with a Parent's Terminal Illness

Posted by: Anne HolmesAdministrator

Dealin g with a Parent's Terminal Illness - 03/28/12 10:29 PM

Hope you can join me TONIGHT when I interview author Linda Campanella on her book "When All That's Left of Me Is Love."

That's Thursday, March 29th at 9:00pm Eastern - an hour later than usual.

As background, Linda calls herself an “accidental author.” She says her book, “When All That’s Left of Me Is Love: A Daughter’s Story of Letting Go”, essentially wrote itself in the weeks of intense grief following her mother’s death in September 2009.

The book is an account of her last year with her terminally ill mother, and Campanella says the chapters poured out of her at all hours of the day and night, flowing directly from a broken heart to a blank page. She finished the manuscript in less than two months – in time to give it to her father for Christmas, his first without his wife and sweetheart of 52 years.

Linda shares that this is not a story she ever wanted or expected to tell, but now that it’s written, she is happy to use the book to keep her mother’s legacy of love and her joyful, generous spirit alive.

No one likes to spend time thinking about or anticipating a loved one’s death. As a result, we are quite often unprepared when it happens.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Please join us on this call to hear Linda discuss some of the important things she learned through her experience, including:

* Through her story of her family’s reactions to hearing of her mother’s terminal diagnosis, learn how you and your siblings might expect to react to news that one of your parents has been given a terminal prognosis. Not all people react the same…
* How Linda found that life can be lived fully and joyfully even while anticipating death. Discover how she found ways to inject living into the dying experience. And her advice for others confronting terminal illness.
* Some of the challenges associated with caring for a dying parent while balancing other important roles and responsibilities–for example, your current life as a mother and/or a working professional.
* Some of the most valuable lessons she learned as a result of her experience – lessons that she believes may be helpful to other daughters facing the prospect caring for and eventually losing a terminally ill parent.
* Whether Linda thinks it is easier to deal with the certain death – - or the sudden death — of a parent or loved one.
* Helpful things friends can do for or say to someone who is terminally ill or caring for a terminally ill family member. As well as her thoughts on whether there are things people should avoid saying or doing.
* Her insights or valuable lessons for others who face death or loss. Including her thoughts on sharing her personal story as a way to inspire or reassure others.?
* The significance of the book title.
* Suggestions for ways to keep very present in our lives someone who is physically gone.
* The reaction her book has received.

Again, this one hour teleseminar is scheduled for Thursday, March 29th at 9:00pm Eastern time. (That’s 8 PM Central, 7 PM Mountain and 6 PM Pacific time.) The call is free and open to the public. You may listen by phone, Skype or online.

Follow this link for details on how to join us on the call, and how to send in questions for Linda.
Posted by: Anne HolmesAdministrator

Re: Dealin g with a Parent's Terminal Illness - 03/29/12 08:57 PM

Even if you can't be on the teleseminar call tonight with author Linda Campanella, you can leave a question for her to answer about her book, "When All That's Left of Me Is Love: A Daughter's Story of Letting Go." We will answer it on the call, and then you can hear it on the recording.

Neat, huh?

Just go here and type your question into the question box:
Posted by: Anne HolmesAdministrator

Re: Dealin g with a Parent's Terminal Illness - 03/29/12 08:59 PM

And if you are planning to be on the live call, make sure you know it is running an hour later than usual:

9 PM Eastern
8 PM Central
7 PM Mountain
6 PM Pacific

Hope to "see" you on the call!
Posted by: Anne HolmesAdministrator

Re: Dealin g with a Parent's Terminal Illness - 03/30/12 06:02 PM

This was a fantastic call! I am thankful to autor Linda Campanella for sharing her story. I hope some of you were on the call and got to hear it live. And for those of you who sent in questions in advance, thanks! We answered them, at the end of the call.

The recording will go up in the private area of the NABBW site by the end of the weekend.
Posted by: Eagle Heart

Anne's Mom Has Lung Cancer - 05/04/12 10:34 AM

Anne, I'm on the run today, and I know this is in the wrong thread, but the other thread won't let me post anything...I just want to say how sorry I am to hear the news about your Mom, and I'm adding her (and you) to my daily prayers.
Posted by: jabber

Sorry 'bout your mom...! - 05/04/12 01:34 PM

Anne,
Sorry about your mom's diagnosis! Prayers are heading to heaven right now. Blessings...!


My youngest sister and her family live about 30 to 30 miles north of Green Valley, Az., in Tucson. Sis is 14 years younger than I; she has been battling cancer for a few years now.
Posted by: Anne HolmesAdministrator

Re: Sorry 'bout your mom...! - 05/04/12 06:04 PM

Thanks Eagle heart and Jabber. Your concern and prayers mean a lot to me.

I'll keep you informed as we know more. She is a good woman with a strong Christian faith. Prayers sustain her - and me.
Posted by: Anne HolmesAdministrator

Anne's Mom Has Lung Cancer - 05/04/12 06:13 PM

How strange that God sent me to read Linda Campanella's book, which involved her story of learning to let go of her mother, who was dying.

More proof that God works in mysterious ways.

Earlier this evening I received an anticipated call from my mother telling me that she was just driving home from a visit with her pulmonologist. Her doctor had just told her that she has lung cancer. (No, I didn't anticipate that she would be told she had cancer, though I knew it was a strong possibility. I meant I had been awaiting her call with word on her biopsy results.)

It is still early in the diagnosis process, so we don't yet know what stage it is, or any of the other details. She is hoping that the "lump" is small enough that they will decide to do surgery, rather than radiation or chemo.

She has never smoked, so she has that in her favor, I believe. And she is in fairly good health for a woman in her 80s.

There are still tests ahead of her, including a PET scan and a pulmonary function test, before any decisions on treatment can be made.

So I'm writing this on the early end of the treatment and procedures. I just wanted to let all of you know that any prayers you can send her way will be greatly appreciated. My mother's name is Helen and she lives in Green Valley, AZ.

Of course the time will come that I will need to go be with her, but we don't yet know any details about that yet.

Thanks for lifting her up in prayer. I appreciate it!
Posted by: Mountain Ash

Re: Anne's Mom Has Lung Cancer - 05/04/12 06:21 PM

Be assured that your Mother is prayed for Ann..and trust that she has excellent care and attention