What can we do when we struggle with an illness that doesn't go away?
An inspirational story of the healing power of music, creativity, following your dreams and finding your true purpose.
In 2008, singer-songwriter Lisa Sniderman was living the dream in California. As Aoede, the Muse of Song, her star as a gifted recording artist was rising fast. Lisa's quirky folk-pop performance style electrified audiences up and down the West Coast, and the albums just kept flowing. But just when her career was rocketing skyward, a health crisis brought all of her dreams crashing to the ground. Diagnosed with a rare, debilitating immune disorder called dermatomyositis (DM), Lisa struggled to maintain a normal life with a body in revolt and, eventually, to accept a new normal. Living with a chronic illness challenged Lisa to see DM as a gift in disguise that has opened the door to new dreams, new songs, and new opportunities. Lisa's story is for you if you seek strength, new inspiration, hope, joy, healing, and if you or someone you love struggle with a chronic illness, disability, or unexpected life events. Her insights and reflections on her journey inspire hope and the courage to keep dreaming and living to the fullest no matter what life hurls at you.
About the Author :
Lisa Sniderman, also known as Aoede, is a 45 year old award-winning, quirky, folk-pop artist, playwright, teaching artist, voice actor, author and filmmaker from San Francisco who creates to heal. She has been honored with more than 80 awards for songwriting, audiobooks and stage plays since 2012 against a fierce obstacle - while suffering from a rare autoimmune disease: dermatomyositis, a progressive muscle weakness disease. Living with a chronic illness, Sniderman creates, records, and shares her original musicals, art, books and music as a healing path and to give back, and seeks to use her gifts and experience to be a light and a muse. Says Sniderman, Music and art are my lifelines, and I just cannot stop creating.
Review :
"Chronic illness challenges us in so many ways, but need not define who we are and what we have to offer. Sniderman is an inspiration. Her memoir provides an honest window into the power of the human spirit through real life examples and wisdom to reimagine what is possible."
-- Keith W. L. Rafal, MD, MPH, Founder of Our Heart Speaks, www.ourheartspeaks.org
"Caring for a son with Juvenile dermatomyositis, I was overcome with the truth and rawness (and tears) of Sniderman's moving story. Her words are uplifting, compelling, engaging, and illuminating for anyone living with chronic illness and for those who love them."
-- Shannon Malloy, Cure JM Foundation
"Lisa Sniderman is an amazing example of finding unbeatable strength through one's creativity. She inspires others with her passion for her music and art and using them to rise above the incredible challenges of her chronic illness. Bravo!"
-- Angelo "Scrote" Bundini, producer and artist
"Sniderman shares valuable wisdom in her open and honest account about overcoming the adversity of living with a chronic illness. A truly inspirational story of the healing power of music and creativity and finding your true purpose."
-- Tom Willner, cancer survivor and author of Having A Ball At Thirty
"Much like her experience in the MRI scanner, Sniderman treats every 'pulse' she hears and feels in her life as if it were music -- understanding that the artistic beauty of life's journey is its individuality and desperate plea to ignore the confinement of having an itinerary."
-- David Fiorentino MD, PhD, Professor of Dermatology, Stanford University School of Medicine
"Sniderman's inspirational tale serves to reminds us of what is possible no matter what we are going through in our own lives. Music and art are often powerful healers that provide the hope medicine needed to keep us moving forward each day."
-- Vincent James and Joann Pierdomenico, authors of 88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life and Founders of Keep Music Alive
"A personal and poignant meditation on healing and hope. Sniderman's brilliant account will surely enlarge empathy, so that more can understand what it means to live with and triumph over struggles."
-- Kabir Sehgal, New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and Grammy Award winner
"As a former psychological counselor, poet, and mother of a child with Juvenile Myositis, I am thrilled by Lisa's book. Her story of both living with a chronic illness and finding ways to harness and express her talents to encourage and inspire others is a gift. I know many kids and adults will not only resonate with her story but will be uplifted by it and will find ways to let 'their lights shine' too. This is an important and necessary story, not just for people with Dermatomyositis, but for anyone who struggles with, or loves someone with a chronic illness."
-- Suzanne Edison, MA, MFA, Cure JM Board of Directors
"Sniderman's ability to overcome impossible obstacles is nothing short of miraculous. Her positive outlook on life and remarkable passion for the arts has truly helped in her recovery. I highly recommend reading A Light in the Darkness. You will find it to be a transformative experience."
-- Tim Battersby, Grammy nominee and novelist
