Up from the Abyss

About the Book

I assure you, though, there is nothing trite about coming down with Guillain-Barrè syndrome. For the person hit by it, it's war and revolution wrapped in one: A catastrophe, an upheaval, a devastating blow.

But also an invaluable experience and a possibility for renewal.

I wouldn't be what I am now, a man at peace with himself and the world, had I not come down with, and fought back from, this terrible ailment. But I don't want to sound excessive. It isn't terminal cancer at young age, or trauma-induced coma and vegetative state; but, as Joseph Heller said, it's no laughing matter, either. The blessing about Guillain-Barrè syndrome-and I mean that with only a little bit of irony-is that it doesn't affect the gray matter upstairs. You know it's bad, but you also know it can be defeated, and the struggle to overcome it lends a tremendous meaning of truthfulness to the old saying: "That which does not kill you " You know the rest. It can paralyze you completely, and, occasionally, do you in, but the road back or, as I imply in my title, the uphill struggle from the abyss is Herculean and character forming.

About the Author

Life in two countries (Italy and the USA), two marriages, one son, and three academic degrees happened to me before Guillain-Barrè syndrome knocked me down for the count. Writing was part of the healing therapy. I was born in 1947 in Utica, NY, and currently live in Rochester.