Unexpected Blessings: Finding Hope and Healing in the Face of Illness

As a person who has suffered with Lupus for 16 years now I found this book very interesting. Looking at the illness from another woman's standpoint, gave me a new perspective and a way to deal with my own illness.

I was in my local Barnes and Noble when I saw this book and was instantly taken back to a day, about 12 years ago, when I first learned about Roxanne and Friends' Health Connection. I was eager to read her story, but this book is so much more than that. It's a very well-written gift to anyone who has experienced a chronic health issue in any capacity--self, spouse, child, or even parent. She is honest, knows how and when to laugh about illness, and is a breath of fresh air amidst all the gloom and doom we often come across in tales of battling health problems. Diagnosed at 15 with Lupus, she began to long for connections with others who knew how she felt. After forming a local group, she began to see the need to open up to anyone facing a health challenge and founded FHC while still a teenager. This wonderful group is now online: www.friendshealthconnection.org and is an amazing gift to all of us from a courageous young woman who could have decided to fold up in self-pity but chose instead to use her experience to help others learn how to truly LIVE--not just cope--with chronic illness. Please pick up this book if you or someone you love struggles with any health challenge at all. It'll inspire you, give you strength, make you laugh, give you hope, put a spring in your step, and most important of all, it will reassure you that you aren't alone in your struggle.

Roxanne Black's "Unexpected Blessings" is a beautiful book from the paper crane on the cover to her inclusion of helpful lists on last pages. Each chapter was skillfully written with an important life lesson in each. Her story flows with courage and inspiration. I celebrate Roxanne and her purposeful life. JK

This book is a winner. I started reading it on Sunday morning, thinking I'd cover a couple of chapters to begin with, and then just kept reading. Through her own story and the stories of a number of other remarkable people, Roxanne Black celebrates our humanity. People can be something else--they take heavy hits but in those hits can be found, as stated in the very apt title to Roxanne's book, unexpected blessings. This is not a Pollyanna book--it looks at hard realities in life, and in the midst of pain and suffering and the terrible truth that life is not fair, it affirms life and the extraordinary power and grace of which humans are capable. It is hard for me to imagine any reader who would not find reward and inspiration in Unexpected Blessings. The book itself is an unexpected blessing; I cannot recommend it more highly.

From: www.BasilAndSpice.com Author & Book Views On A Healthy Life! Book Review: Unexpected Blessings: Finding Hope and Healing in the Face of Illness (Avery, 2008) by Roxanne Black A FirstLook Review Roxanne Black is the Founder and Executive Director of Friends' Health Connection, begun when she was only a high school student, shortly after she was diagnosed with Lupus. Her deep felt desire was to share a camaraderie with another teenager with Lupus. Friends' Health Connection evolved from that point, connecting people with various diseases and conditions to each other. Roxanne Black is a Rutgers graduate, has been appointed the 268th Daily Point of Light by former President George Bush, received a medal from former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, and was named by USA Today while in college one of the top eighteen college students in the country. Unexpected Blessings has received praise from authors Richard Cohen, Mehmet Oz, M.D., Deepak Chopra, Nancy Snyderman,M.D, Larry Dossey, M.D., Bernie Siegel, M.D., and Christiane Northrup, M.D. Unexpected Blessings is the humbly-told autobiography of the story of Roxanne Black. In the book, Roxanne tells about her suffering, the role of her supportive mother, and the everyday blessings she has received. Overwhelmed with self-misery shortly after her shocking diagnosis, her mother suggested to her, "Maybe you were meant to help others," propelling Roxanne forward into a lifetime of service to those in need of a friend. Out of this intense time of suffering grew Friends' Health Connection. There are several themes throughout Unexpected Blessings, focusing on mutual understanding, support for those in need, compassion for others both near and far, unconditional love, the necessity of listening, the healthy benefits of laughter, and hope--easily given and devastating to be taken away. Roxanne states that mutual support and understanding result in taking the time to listen to others. This she says is the foundation of her work and life. She follows Einstein's thoughts in believing that life itself is a miracle. Comparing herself with those less fortunate, Roxanne recognizes that though she's been through some really tough times, she is still able to walk, dance, move, and live a life of blessing to others. Happiness, Roxanne says is "savoring our journey in the middle of living it." For her it is recognition that money does not purchase contentment, but instead comes after doing something to help another through volunteering, offering support, or just being available. By giving beyond herself, Roxanne has discovered not only herself, but has experienced the benefit of understanding others. Roxanne Black's selflessness is an inspiration to all who can and should, and to those who can and do. We need more Roxanne Blacks. In the considerate way of Roxanne Black, always thinking of others, she has dedicated Unexpected Blessings to her mother--Frances Black; her sister--Bonnie, who donated a kidney to Roxa