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Tag Archive: personal stories

1. Power to the Patient

   by Amy Levine · May 23, 2013

   

   As a patient coping with a health event, you have to deal not only with your body changing drastically — sometimes suddenly and sometimes gradually — but also with a significant loss of self. Your independence is often compromised, and family members cluck and fret and frequently talk over you to your doctors. They mean well, but sometimes your caregiving team may be hindering you more than helping. Maintaining Your Sense of Self. Despite the circumstances and stress of being ill, it is vital that as a patient, you maintain your sense of self. You are not helpless. You are [...]

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2. Book review: Bloom by Kelle Hampton

   by Liz DeKlavon · January 3, 2013

   

   This week, we feature our very first book review. At CaringBridge, we’re all about finding ways to care for and support each other, both at CaringBridge.org and on our Amplifier Hub, our online volunteer community. And we know that support can come in many forms — including the recommendation of a thoughtful, inspiring book. CaringBridge volunteer Liz DeKlavon recently finished Bloom by Kelle Hampton and found that the author’s depiction of her family’s health journey, and the important role her personal network played throughout it, reflected what many have experienced through CaringBridge. This is why we chose to share it [...]

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3. Stories of illness and the capacity to empower, inspire, and heal

   by Darci Schummer · October 25, 2012

   

   I am a fiction writer and educator living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I teach at the Loft Literary Center, a nonprofit organization offering writing classes. I first became interested in the topic of healing when I heard an interview with Siddhartha Mukherjee. He commented on the relationship between narrative and illness. In his book The Emperor of All Maladies, he writes, “A patient, long before he becomes the subject of medical scrutiny, is, at first, simply a storyteller, a narrator of suffering—a traveler who has visited the kingdom of the ill.” Dealing with health conditions is often compared to a [...]

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