A new book from a therapist who specializes in helping people navigate grief and loss offers a road map to those who may be facing similar difficulties. From the shocking initial news through the ups and downs of cancer treatments, the family finds the resources and support they need to face the challenges and find joy in the precious moments of everyday life.
In Grace Street: A Sister’s Memoir of Grief & Gratitude (Gray Dove Press), licensed social worker Maureen Callahan Smith writes from the heart about accompanying her younger sister Kathy through a late-stage cancer diagnosis and the treatment that follows, including chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant. When the sudden diagnosis upends her sister’s life, the author and her family find themselves having to map the way forward through the unknown. In the end, it’s a path they seem to know by heart.
Callahan Smith draws on her experience as a clinical social worker and her background in meditation and other spiritual traditions to find insight, solace, and moments of sweetness in difficult times. Somehow, facing the hardest thing she’s ever faced opens her to the deepest gratitude and appreciation of life, with all of its beauty and pain.
As part of her book launch, Callahan Smith is offering book readings that benefit local cancer support centers. She sees these kinds of events as an opportunity to give back. “I think anyone who’s been through having someone they love fighting this illness is really humbled by how much other people helping matters,” Callahan Smith said. “I just want to support anyone who’s doing that. It’s really important for families to not feel alone when they are engaged in such an all-encompassing struggle.”
Grace Street: A Sister’s Memoir of Grief & Gratitude (Gray Dove Press, $16.99, 316 pages, 8 x 5¼, paperback, ISBN: 978-1-953253-00-3) is available wherever you buy your books. A Kindle ebook of Grace Street will launch on June 7, and preorders are available now on Amazon for 30% off.
