Mom’s Story – A Child Learns About MS – Mary Jo Nickum

 

 Moms Story - MS
Paperback: 80 pages
Publisher: Chalet Publishers (October 30, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0984083650
ISBN-13: 978-0984083657
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Mary Jo Nickum has been living with MS since 1989. There are about 400,000 people in the US with MS. 200 People are diagnosed with it every week. 2.5 Million people have it worldwide. Ms. Nickum’s website can be found at www.marynickum.com

While this story is fictional, the information it presents is factual. The story is about a family of five. The mother, father, Tony & Kelly the twins, and Amy the youngest. It begins with a fall, then a plate of dropped eggs, followed by temporary blindness. The Verdict MS. This is where the most important parts of this book come in. The questions people have when faced with a debilitating disease, or in this case, kids have about a parent facing them. You have Amy who’s worried that her mom is going to die, and about how life is going to change. Then there’s Tony, who it seems feels a bit embarassed that his family isn’t going to be “normal” anymore. I was able to relate to the kids, and understand what was going through their heads.

I think this would be a great book for children who’s parents have been diagnosed with MS. I also think the ideas behind it could be used to discuss any major parental illness with children, such as getting the videos, books, internet research, etc. Kids get afraid very easy, and to deny the facts in order to protect them can sometimes make things much worse.

The Author includes a section on internet resources, places to get videos that were suggested, a glossary of terms, and information on MS itself. If you or someone you know has MS, and has children, I’d recommend this book.

You can discuss it here

*DISCLAIMER* An ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book was provided to me by the Author for review. This in no way influenced my review.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 11:20 am and is filed under Children. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Mom’s Story – A Child Learns About MS – Mary Jo Nickum”

  1. J.B. Vadeboncoeur Says:
    November 24th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    Very nice. It must be very gratifying to be the author.

  2. Cora Laine Says:
    November 24th, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    I had the pleasure a few weeks ago to read this 80 page book about a child’s view of MS. I am 60 and was captured by the story, it is still fresh in my mind. Mary Jo Nickum caught the essence of MS and the effect it had on this family.

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