The Trouble with Tom: A Parent's Lesson on Letting Go - Hardcover

Susan Thomassen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0981845207 ISBN 13: 9780981845203

Publisher: Sandbar Pr, 2009

Synopsis

The Trouble With Tom is a tragic turned triumphant memoir of a troubled boy and his vigilant mother. Together they learn to overcome drug abuse, a suicide attempt, and even prison. Once they find their way, Tom is freed to begin living a healthy, productive life, thereby giving Susan the freedom to live her life again after seven pain filled years.

About this title

About the Author

Susan Thomassen was raised in Plymouth, Ma and resides there today with her husband Dave. She graduated from Quincy College in 1998 with a degree in nursing. Before nursing school, she completed her degree in office administration, and then took classes at Northeastern University, School of Journalism until she enrolled in nursing school.Susan began her nursing profession working on an adolescent forensic unit at Pembroke Hospital. From there she served as a Registered Nurse at McLean Hospital Southeast as a unit nurse, then Nurse Manager for a duel diagnosis step down unit.In 2002, Susan began working at Cape Cod Hospital, Cape Psych Center, ultimately accepting the position of Support Nurse for troubled children and their parents, and remained there until October 2008. While working for Cape Psych Center, Susan was nominated for the Nursing Excellence Award of Cape Cod Healthcare. During Susan s years working with parent s of troubled children, she recognized a common thread in many of her conversations: The difficulty parent s were having letting go of their child, or recognizing that is what they needed to do. Having raised her own troubled child, coupled with her life-long desire to write, she chronicled her own experience in The Trouble With Tom: A Parent s Lesson on Letting Go.

From the Inside Flap

When Susan becomes pregnant at 16, it seems the odds are stacked against her. Despite the fact that her boyfriend Phil refuses to commit to either her or the baby, Susan decides to raise her son, Tom, on her own. It s not easy, but she is determined to get her nursing degree and make a better life for her new family- a life away from Phil s extremely dysfunctional relatives. Tom is a very affectionate, happy-go-lucky child, and the deep bond he shares with his mother makes her feel that the hard work of single parenting is well worth it. His natural aptitude for basketball and ease with schoolwork only make her more proud, and his winning personality even gets him featured on national TV. But despite the fact that things seem to come easily to Tom, difficult times are in store for him and Susan.After a life-changing accident, Susan begins to sense a change in her son. Then Tom becomes the victim of a horrifying assault, and starts to shut his mother out of his life. Turning to alcohol and drugs in his teens, Tom lies to his family time and time again, heading down a path which will lead him to a failed suicide attempt, and ultimately, to jail. Susan s efforts to save her son from himself are heroic, but she will eventually discover that the only way to help Tom is to let him face his demons on his own terms.The Trouble with Tom is an emotional roller-coaster which will make you feel Susan s joy and anguish as intensely as if you were there. It will speak to anyone who has watched a loved one go through a difficult or self-destructive time. A touching and bittersweet story of motherhood, The Trouble with Tom reminds us all that as difficult as raising a child is, the hardest part of parenting is learning to let go.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sandbar Pr
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0981845207
• ISBN 13: 9780981845203
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 354