Dear Chronic Illness

by Pippa Stacey (Compiler)

‘Dear Chronic Illness’ features a collection of short letters written by young people, addressed to their long-term illnesses and impairments, detailing what they would like to say to them. The letters are not your typical sob stories, and provide a light-hearted and humorous commentary on the writers’ various experiences, yet they also give insight into the challenges of navigating life whilst learning to live with their conditions.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health

71 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 14, 2018

About the author

Pippa Stacey is a disabled writer, speaker, and communication consultant based in Yorkshire.

She is the author of University And Chronic Illness: A Survival Guide, and has also compiled and contributed to other non-fiction books in the disability sphere. Her award-winning blog, Life Of Pippa, documents her experiences of navigating life and chasing her ambitions while managing her chronic illness, and through sharing her authentic experiences she has grown a sizeable online community on social media.

Alongside her writing and media engagements, Pippa also works in communications consultancy in the charity sector. She has a particular interest in inclusive education and employment and how these things can be made more accessible for people with Energy Limiting Conditions like her own. For the last two years she has been named in the Shaw Trust's Disability Power 100 as one of the most influential disabled people in the UK, and hopes to use her platforms to help pave the way for people wanting to live a happy and fulfilling life alongside long-term illness.

In her free time, Pippa enjoys theatre, reading, travel, and blogging about her experiences at Life Of Pippa.

Reviews

[Evie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little book exceeded all my expectations; it was absolutely brilliant and a lovely little gem of a book to read. I loved the different tones and attitudes everyone bought to this book and it was so great to read of all the chronic illnesses from so many different points of view. A must read for anyone with a chronic illness, especially for the “younger” generation.

[Pippa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely not biased, at all... although I'd certainly give 5 stars to each and every one of my wonderful fellow contributors!

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dear diary kind of book written by various people suffering from chronic illnesses. Through their stories you see how much we all need to appreciate life and everything it throws at us.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book (tad bias as a contributor).

I love that these are not sob stories and they are definitely not inspiration porn. They are real, down to earth reflections about life with a chronic illness.

They are light hearted, humorous and extremely relatable accounts of various experiences. Each account also shows a very different insight into the challenges encountered when trying to navigate life with a disability/chronic illness. You get letters from 16 different people all with their own take on living with a chronic illness.

I would highly recommend giving this book a read if you have a chronic illness, especially if you feel alone. It makes you realise that there are others who understand what you are going through. It's also great for family or friends who are trying to understand what life is like for their loved one.

[Misty ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful little book and it’s such a creative way to make an anthology! I really enjoyed reading the collection of letters and experiences of others with chronic illnesses. I felt both seen and understood within these pages and reading them made me contemplate my own relationship with my chronic illness and what I would want to express if I wrote a letter to it.

The letters included:
• Fibromyalgia
• Endometriosis
• M.E.
• POTS
• EDS
• Lyme Disease
• Dysautonomia
• Brain Tumor

My only critique is that I would have liked to hear from even more voices of people with a larger variety of illnesses ~ maybe this could become a series? (I would love to see more volumes of Dear Chronic Illness created in the future)

Overall this was a short, but wonderful read and I liked it so much that finishing the book just made me want to read it again! I would recommend this book to anyone with chronic illness who wants to feel less alone 💙

[Chronically Ill Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this :) it was a short but really lovely read. The book is comprised of several letters from people with different chronic illnesses to their chronic illness. It was a really lovely read seeing the different ways in which people relate to their illnesses. The letters are filled with character and positive whilst staying realistic about the joys of chronic illnesses. 10/10 would recommend!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for any chronically ill person who needs a reminder that they don't walk alone in the struggle

[Naomi Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was easy to read in the way it was formatted.

It would have been good to have read letters from people with a wider range of illnesses.

However reading letters from a small pool of illnesses you get a broader sense of the different readers relationships all to the same illness. For example with M.E. you get an idea of different people’s relationship to their M.E.

Sharing a few of the diagnoses’ to those in the book it was interesting to relate or have differing views/feelings to the writer of the letter.

The book also made me think about my own ‘Dear chronic illness’ letter that I would like to write.

I found the book helpful in a way that left me feeling as though I’m not alone with the ways I feel and think towards my own health and health experiences.

I’d definitely recommend this book especially to someone with a chronic illness featured in the book.