Facing Up: A Patient's Guide to Healing the Face

A guide book to healing after catastrophic facial injuries. With grace and compassion Hawk Todd takes the reader on her journey of healing and shares lessons she learned along the way. Practical topics like preparing for surgery and how to sleep well are covered.  Hawk Todd discusses how to adjust to facial changes and learn to accept, and work with, a new face you may not like. The author encourages the reader to “dig deep” and explore the depths of healing by using mind and soul. Her arduous journey began in 1996 when she was struck in the face by an 85 mile an hour baseball that shattered her face and severely damaged her eye. Ten years later, the extensive scar tissue from her accident turned to basal cell carcinoma. Again, Hawk Todd’s face was invaded, this time removing more than 20% of the surface area and shifting an additional 50% to cover the area exposed. When her cancer surgeries were completed, she felt deformed.  She endured a third reconstruction. After a total of sixteen surgeries to her face, Hawk Todd says: “I am thankful, relieved and overjoyed to say — I am done.” While Facing Up is written for those enduring facial reconstruction and facial differences, the lessons shared are valuable to all.