Synopses & Reviews
A groundbreaking revelation of life after the diagnosis of a serious condition, The Five Gifts of Illness offers a community of empathy for the many millions of Americans struggling to understand and access their lives after a major diagnosis while also providing their families and friends with insight into what their loved ones are going through.
Synopsis
- A groundbreaking reevaluation of life after the diagnosis of a serious condition: Jill Sklar's unprecedented synthesis draws upon her original interviews with more than 100 survivors of major illness, the findings of dozens of published studies, and her own experience with illness--as well as her subtle, thorough reconsideration of work by such previous writers in the field as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross--that, altogether, is a visionary and life-affirming rethinking of illness and its consequences.
- A patient-expert of the first order--an author who knows profoundly of what she writes: Sklar, herself diagnosed with unremitting Crohn's disease when she was twenty, has undergone multiple major surgeries and struggles to cope with the physical effects of the disease and its treatment.
- A valuable source of hope and guidance for the millions of Americans who survive and live with life-threatening illness: The Five Gifts of Illness offers a community of empathy for the many millions of Americans struggling to understand and assess their lives after a major diagnosis, while also providing their families and friends with insight into what their loved ones are going through. Among its key findings: Survivors experienced a new sense of emotional equilibrium, treasured relationships to a greater degree, discovered a deeper sense of the passage of time as well as for their physical being, increased their altruistic acts, and reset life goals to reflect shifted priorities.
About the Author
Jill Sklar, a freelance writer specializing in medical writing, has written many articles on medical subjects from heart transplantation to digestive diseases for publications including Hour Detroit Magazine, Style Magazine, and Digestive Health and Nutrition Magazine. Sklar lives in Huntington Woods, Mich., with her husband and son.