Reviewer Conny Withay:Operating her own business in office management since 1991, Conny is an avid reader and volunteers with the elderly playing her designed The Write Word Game. A cum laude graduate with a degree in art living in the Pacific Northwest, she is married with two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren.
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Author: Michele Howe Clarke
Publisher: The Entrepreneurial Publisher
ISBN: 978 -1-60037-960-4
Follow Here To Purchase Face Forward: Meeting Challenges Head On in Times of Trouble
Author: Michele Howe Clarke
Publisher: The Entrepreneurial Publisher
ISBN: 978 -1-60037-960-4
Michele Howe Clarke has been through the depths of despair for simply having a cancer that raged through her facial and neck area. In her book, Face Forward, she explains the cancer, the pain and agony, the process of accepting her disfiguration and how to accept life in spite of its disasters.
This two hundred and
twelve page paperback with a bright beach scene on the jacket “meets
challenges head on in times of trouble.” In addition to a foreword,
prologue and table of contents, each chapter is headlined with a
short poem in cursive writing from the author herself. It is divided
into two parts, one explaining her story of overcoming the big “C”
word and the other part being a step-by-step tutorial of how to
approach and harness life from the “I / me / my” focal point. The
fonts are easy to read and throughout the first half of the book
there are blocked sections written to the reader directly. Some
profanity is used in the book. A small author’s photograph is on
the back of the book showing barely noticeable facial trauma.
Michele tells a heartbreaking story of having facial and neck cancer which is a life or death situation. She has to decide to either live with disfigurement due to removal of her facial nerves or die with a smile – she chooses to live for life for her beloved husband and six month old daughter. The story breaks your heart as she goes through three major surgeries and multiple infections with emotional, spiritual and physical setbacks.
In the book, Michele looks
to her inner Source for all her strength and resolve. She involves
herself in the “I am the creator of my own reality” theory to
overcome her depression as she searches for the right group that
brings her comfort. She finds it in ECaP, Qi Gong, transformational
breathing, singing Prayers of Jabez, etc.
The book is a “new age” self-help empowerment book for someone who caters to more of an Eastern tradition that includes meditation, quantum physics, chi, and “mind-body-spirit” medicine. It is not for one who traditionally believes or trusts in God or a Superior Being.
I truly felt sorry that Michele, her husband, daughter, family and friends had to go through this ordeal and experience as it sounded so painful, unimaginable and personal. It is raw, it is real: it is life. However, I wish she would consider that God allowed it for some unexplainable reason and it is His Power that helped her change to be the new wonderful, beautiful (inside and outside) human being that she is now. Everything happens for a reason.