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Second chances: true stories of living with Addison's disease
How does it feel to be diagnosed with a life-threatening health condition?
Addison's disease is a rare auto-immune condition which can be fatal. Diagnosis is often made in an emergency.
In this book, sixteen people describe the impact Addison's disease has had on their lives. Drawn from the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa, Belgium and South Korea, these men and women describe in their own words the difficult journey they've taken, from illness, through diagnosis, to living a full life, thanks to the second chance modern medicine has given them.
Addison's disease is a rare auto-immune condition which can be fatal. Diagnosis is often made in an emergency.
In this book, sixteen people describe the impact Addison's disease has had on their lives. Drawn from the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa, Belgium and South Korea, these men and women describe in their own words the difficult journey they've taken, from illness, through diagnosis, to living a full life, thanks to the second chance modern medicine has given them.
- GenresHealthNonfiction
Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2012
22 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Carol McKay
15 books8 followersOut now, my crime novel White Spirit. Set in the Scottish Highlands, it introduces DI Allan MacIntyre, a good-looking 37-year-old who has to investigate the murder of a teenage boy at the same time as a series of minor explosions. 'a thrilling story... White Spirit excels in plot. The pacing is perfect.' (Arkbound)
Want a feelgood read about life after a pandemic? Incunabulum is for you. I promise you - the characters face their share of scary fights and ordeals, but this is a positive book, fast paced and with a happy ending, and isn't that exactly what we want right now? Incunabulum is epic storytelling about new life. Try it! And let me know what you think of it.
Leela Soma interviewed me about it for her blog, and you can read it here - https://leelasoma.wordpress.com/2020/...
My fiction is informed by people and places. Many of my stories stem from experiences within my hometown but I often find myself inspired by places I've visited. Sometimes my work is classified as urban realism; sometimes it asks the reader to grapple with the misfit in us all.
My short stories have been finding publication for twenty years since I took a Masters degree in Creative Writing at the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow. I'm very happy to have some of the early ones made available together in an e-book called 'Ordinary Domestic' published in March 2012 by The PotHole Press.
Also available on Amazon, in e-book format and good old fashioned ink and paper, is 'As I lay me down to sleep' which is the first volume of Eileen Munro's autobiography. I co-wrote this book with Eileen after meeting her when she was a student on one of the Open University creative writing modules which I taught between 2004 to 2018.
In 2010, I was diagnosed with a health condition called Addison's disease. It's an auto-immune condition in which the body attacks and destroys the outer layers of the adrenal glands. It's a fairly rare condition, so I got in touch with fifteen other Addison's people to produce an inspirational book on the subject. We've all written about our experience of what it's like to live with this life-changing condition, and this is now available on Kindle in the e-book called 'Second Chances: true stories of living with Addison's disease'.
Also available for Kindle - my e-book of Creative Writing Prompts to Feed the Imagination. I wrote this to answer the question I get asked most often, i.e. 'Where do you find ideas? I'd love to write but can't think of anything to write about.' This little guide gives lots of stimulating ideas for fiction, poetry and memoir writing and it also includes some straightforward advice on plotting and point of view.
Want a feelgood read about life after a pandemic? Incunabulum is for you. I promise you - the characters face their share of scary fights and ordeals, but this is a positive book, fast paced and with a happy ending, and isn't that exactly what we want right now? Incunabulum is epic storytelling about new life. Try it! And let me know what you think of it.
Leela Soma interviewed me about it for her blog, and you can read it here - https://leelasoma.wordpress.com/2020/...
My fiction is informed by people and places. Many of my stories stem from experiences within my hometown but I often find myself inspired by places I've visited. Sometimes my work is classified as urban realism; sometimes it asks the reader to grapple with the misfit in us all.
My short stories have been finding publication for twenty years since I took a Masters degree in Creative Writing at the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow. I'm very happy to have some of the early ones made available together in an e-book called 'Ordinary Domestic' published in March 2012 by The PotHole Press.
Also available on Amazon, in e-book format and good old fashioned ink and paper, is 'As I lay me down to sleep' which is the first volume of Eileen Munro's autobiography. I co-wrote this book with Eileen after meeting her when she was a student on one of the Open University creative writing modules which I taught between 2004 to 2018.
In 2010, I was diagnosed with a health condition called Addison's disease. It's an auto-immune condition in which the body attacks and destroys the outer layers of the adrenal glands. It's a fairly rare condition, so I got in touch with fifteen other Addison's people to produce an inspirational book on the subject. We've all written about our experience of what it's like to live with this life-changing condition, and this is now available on Kindle in the e-book called 'Second Chances: true stories of living with Addison's disease'.
Also available for Kindle - my e-book of Creative Writing Prompts to Feed the Imagination. I wrote this to answer the question I get asked most often, i.e. 'Where do you find ideas? I'd love to write but can't think of anything to write about.' This little guide gives lots of stimulating ideas for fiction, poetry and memoir writing and it also includes some straightforward advice on plotting and point of view.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 30, 2013
Interesting collection of stories from different people who have been diagnosed with Addison's Disease. I have Secondary Adrenal Insuff due to Hypo Pituitary. Reading how other people with adrenal disease handle their illness and how it affects their lives was good to read.
February 22, 2015
I bought this book when someone close to me was diagnosed with Addison's Disease. I had some basic knowledge of Addison's because our family dog growing up had it but I was still shocked, saddened, and scared when I heard. As a librarian naturally my first instinct was to research and read everything I could about it. It was easy enough to find medical facts but I wanted to know what to expect from the future--what living with Addison's looks like after the initial crisis passes. This book accomplished just that. Reading the first-hand accounts of 16 very different people not only provided practical advice but helped give me perspective and imagine what the future may now look like. Hearing from people who had lived with Addison's for decades and found ways to keep doing the things they loved was a great comfort and even reading about the struggles turned them into something concrete that could be planned for and overcome instead of an unnamed lurking fear. The quality of the writing style varies greatly from chapter to chapter but every story shared something that I found helpful. I wouldn't recommend this based on literary merit to a casual reader looking for a memoir collection but for those who want to learn more about life with Addison's this is a valuable resource and I'm deeply thankful to Carol McKay for putting it together.
Read more of my reviews at http://auldschoollibrarian.blogspot.com/
Read more of my reviews at http://auldschoollibrarian.blogspot.com/
June 5, 2016
My husband and two kids have addisons
Great book to see what others have gone through with trying to get diagnosed. It really brought back memories of what my oldest and husband went through before diagnosis. Drs need a better education on this disease as it's not as rAre as it seems.
Great book to see what others have gone through with trying to get diagnosed. It really brought back memories of what my oldest and husband went through before diagnosis. Drs need a better education on this disease as it's not as rAre as it seems.
October 14, 2015
Good and easy read
Good read for those with Addison's disease. Relatable and some personally, eye opening findings about living with Addison's disease. I was able to make changes in my medications, with the assistance of my endocrine doc and have had some SUPER AWESOME results.
Good read for those with Addison's disease. Relatable and some personally, eye opening findings about living with Addison's disease. I was able to make changes in my medications, with the assistance of my endocrine doc and have had some SUPER AWESOME results.
February 4, 2017
I'd never heard of this disease until a day before I picked up this book, and I found the experiences of the people in this book enlightening. I liked that the people were allowed to use their own words with minimal editing; I felt like this brought forth their personalities and let me understand how the disease affected them at a very personal level. On a personal note, I would have liked to read more experiences of people living with Addison's in the undeveloped world, but I understand that that even finding these people might have been a difficult task in itself. Overall, this was an edifying experience.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews