Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver

Here is the link to my story. The rest of my blog is about how my case of encephalitis relates to my care for Mom when she was navigating Alzheimer’s.

https://www.encephalitis.info/barbaras-story

In my debut poetic memoir published last week on Amazon (Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir), I tell about my miraculous recovery from measles encephalitis. Mom was by my side daily at the hospital when I woke up from a month-long coma. When I reflect on her care, I realize that she was probably stretched because she had three other young children. Grant was 8, I was 7, Martha was 5, and Monty was a newborn.

Being young and sick, I figured she lived only to care for me. I had her attention and no one else did. I was only 6 when I became paralyzed, unable to speak, unable to eat solids, unable to move my arms away from my body. Mom fed me baby food and took care of my other needs. Later, I took care of her needs when she became too confused to balance her checkbook or even write a check, make it to the doctor’s office in her own, and so much more.

Also, just as Alzheimer’s would later burn away Mom’s memories, the Encephalitis burned away many of mine. Just as she took care of me, I took care of her. In my book, Three-Penny Memories, I have a poem called “Bookends”, page 125, which shows the similarities in Mom’s life and mine when it came to brain injuries. Also, in Chapter 1, Light, the poems on pages 23-30 recount my experience with encephalitis.

Thank you for reading and commenting! If you like the book, please think about writing a review on Amazon and recommending the book to families who may benefit from my perspective as a caregiver to a parent with Alzheimer’s or to a family affected by encephalitis.

By the way, the Kindle book is now a best-seller on Amazon among the poetry books on death. I know what matters is the book itself, but I’m having fun tracking the sales for now.

Barbara Harris Leonhard

Amazon Best-Selling Author

Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir, (EIF-Experiments in Fiction, 2022)

Pushcart Poet Nominee, 2022

Facebook: Barbara Harris Leonhard /barbara.leonhard

Twitter: @BarbaraLeonhar4

Instagram: @meelosmom123

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