Groundbreaking Book about Caregiving, Disability, and Hope

New Book Tackles Difficult Questions in Accessible Format

Savannah Borden, the subject of ground breaking graphic novel: And Yet We Rise: A tale of coping, overcoming, and transcending
Savannah lounging
I started working on "And Yet We Rise," a graphic novel about care-giving, disability, mourning, and hope, about a year ago. It's amazing to think that I'm in the home stretch. During the same time, I designed and built an e-commerce website, wrote and published a book of cat wisdom with Ruby, and started a letter story subscription. Whew! I've been crazy busy. Oh, and I got my studio up and running again... and even managed to paint a few small pictures.

(unsure what a "graphic novel" is? Click here to learn more...)
(unsure what a Kickstarter campaign is? Click here to learn more...)

Why is this Book "Ground Breaking?"

I have found no other book in the market that takes a raw, honest look at long-term care-giving, though there have been a handful of comics that have examined the subject of disability or serious illness. A large portion of these books have focused on mental illness and superheroes (such as Daredevil, who is blind). View a list of "disability comics."

My mission is to shed light on the area of children with multiple, severe disability (see Andrew Solomon, Far from the Tree, for an in depth discussion of that term) and the family who care for them.

Sounds Like a Niche Market; Why Should You Care?

If you’ve ever lost hope, felt desperate and out of control, this book was written for you.

This is the book I wanted 15 years ago after Savannah, was born. I desperately wanted honest information about caring for someone who was not going to get better. I didn’t know that a hidden world of disability existed at the margins of society.

If you live long enough, you or someone you care about will become disabled. In other words, there is a high likelihood that this story will become your story.

Disability is the largest and fastest growing demographic in America. 

In addition, research shows that people who've cared for a person with significant disabilities, age at 6 times the normal rate due to the extreme stress (see my post on Chronic, Unremitting Stress). This experience can destroy people, cost jobs, and drain whole families.

All of my advanced readers report that they love the fact that the book is unrelenting in its raw portrayal of my experience, yet hopeful, beautiful, and uplifting. But most of all, they report that they felt the story was about more than just disability-- that it was a universal story about the struggle with care-giving to an ill or dying relative-- an experience we all have sooner or later.

Thank you all for your continued support

When I needed beta readers, I had more volunteers than books in a matter of hours. During the month of February, I'm going to ask you to help me spread the word about the book and the Kickstarter. Please share the links widely on various platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbr, etc... If you blog or podcast, you are welcome to use information from this blog especially the posts tagged: Life with Savannah: the other normal as part of your story. Feel free to contact me, as well. The more supporters I can reach, the higher the likelihood of reaching my goal... and knock on wood, stretch goals

While I'm at it, I'd like to thank the readers of this blog. I am amazed that this personal blog has had nearly 70,000 page views since starting just a few years ago.

If you want a preview, you can visit the "And Yet We Rise" page on my business website: www.ScribbleFire.com.

You can also find me on:
Twitter @dsborden


#disability #severemultipledisability #specialneeds #depression #mourning #grief #comics #graphicnovel #family #caregiving #chronicillness



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