ABOUT

Unexpected Lives, the website and the blog, is a collection of personal essays about managing our lives, the tragedies that sometimes befall us, and the in-between times that leave us marked by the joy of the moment.

Castellano, C., Goldstein, S.B., & Walsh, MB. (2011). FAMILY FIRST RESPONDERS: Resilient Mothers of Special Needs Children. In D. Paton & J.M. Violanti (Eds.) Working in High Risk Environments: Developing Sustained Resilience. (pp. 13-33). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN 978-0-398-08692-3 (hard) / ISBN 978-0-398-08693-0 (paper)
ISBN 978-0-398-08694-7 (ebook) / Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2011025783
Printed in the United States of America / MM-R-3

Published Articles

Healthwise "Learning to Listen Well" in Courier News
July 20, 2010
When I'm part of a group — or by myself, for that matter — and presumably listning to someone speak, I'll stare at my nails, gaze out a window or maybe just quietly fidget. Although I believe I am listning, my mind is elswhere. I've noticed, though, that I'm not the only one. And I've wondered, "Why is it so hard to listen when others are talking?"

UNEXPECTED LIVES

UNEXPECTED LIVES, told from a mother's perspective, is the story of how one family confronts cancer in its only children: Valerie, diagnosed when she was three, and, yearls later, Stacy, diagnosed at twenty-five. By revealing central aspects of the struggles to overcome the children's illnesses, the author uncovers her family's will to live fully and enthusiastically. Hovering over all, however, is a dark cloud of uncertainty as ordinary people are faced with extraordinary illness.

MEANWHILE, I KEEP DANCING: MOTHERS OF CHILDREN WITH EXTRAORDINARY NEEDS

Meanwhile,I Keep Dancing . . . is an anthology of compelling stories by mothers who describe their resilience, their love, and the lessons they learned in caring for their children with extraordinary health needs such as autism, Down syndrome, cancer, and more.