This is a delightful, insightful, grippingly vivid and passionate account of cancer fear, fight and victory. Born Maria Madalena Machado on a remote Portuguese island, this child knew love of family and nature peppered with fearsome challenges. Forced to be strong and mature at 11 years of age, her family traveled to America and settled in Massachusetts. At 16, the jaws of discord, disease and tragedy swept Maria into a darkness of loss and terror. She has survived with the love and support of family, doctors and God.
Driven to relate her life account of cancer survival and success, Maria has written this autobiographical story. This author tells this tale with a style that will hold your heart and mind through each and every page. This author is donating 25 % of the profits of this accomplished book back to the clinic that cured her, at that time known as New England Medical Center Floating Hospital for Children.
The remote seaswept island of Graciosa, Portugal is the birthplace of this author named Maria Madalena, this pretty and bright child is the only daughter of Manuel and Maria Machado. She is bouyant of spirit, slender of frame, her face graced by dark curls and adorned with cherubic grace.
Her devoted passion was playing with her big brother Manny. Their frolic included playing outdoors, sea swimming and fishing. Her sense of balance and security was upset at the age of 11, with an immigration to the United States. Saddened further when she went to school, not yet knowing English, not having any friends, made life more difficult for her. Her life's drama was just emerging however, when at the age of sixteen she discovered a lump on her neck. The years that followed had cancer diagnosis and treatment as only a part of her struggle and tragedy.
Maria presently resides in Beverly Ma, with her wonderful husband Gerry and her three children Adam, Catherine, and Anthony who at this time is somewhere over seas as one of our soldiers. She is a very proud family oriented individual. She resides a couple miles away from her older brother Manny who she adored throughout the years and wonderful father Manuel.
This author writes with a style that is simply gripping, simply bold, simply passionate. The terror and triumph, the loss and gain of her story is more than most people experience in their lifetime. This book is a must for all of you who are healthy, sick, injured, lost or saved. Each page is a testament to her life, her spirit, her strength and goodwill as an author.