From My Mother: Surviving and Thriving in a Family Ravaged by Genetic Disease

Everyone receives something from their mother.

What Darcy Leech received is nothing short of inspiring!

Riveting, soulful, and courageously told, From My Mother is a meditation on grief, family, genetic disease and also a deeply personal account of the narrator's coming-of-age amid medical crisis and tragedy to carry on the lessons from her mother to raise her young son. A story of loss on many levels, From My Mother is a moving book that transforms suffering into art and inspiration.

Leech weaves a beautiful tapestry of the enduring mysteries of what dormant harbingers of genetic disease may lurk within, the surprising possibilities in loss, and the deep resilience of the human spirit as the body weakens. From My Mother leaves the reader pondering the value of genetic testing, the beauty in a disease easy to accept as genetic fault, and the heart wrenching question of when life should be sustained by machine or ended by choice.

The first child born to a mother with myotonic dystrophy, Darcy Leech was raised to expect her brother to die before she did. She matured quickly as a child living amid medical crisis and went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude from Bethany College as a nationally award winning student athlete. From My Mother tells the family story of the strongest woman Darcy will ever know, her mother, Jo Lyn, who died from weakening muscles.