Born without the ability to produce neutrophils, the warrior cells that patrol the bloodstream, she had already survived more than fifty life-threatening infections by the age of five. Despite the constant IVs and endless needle pricks, the hospital became her refuge—a place where nurses welcomed her like family, and her hematologist called her his superstar patient. To Leta, it was her home away from home, shelter from a world where she struggled to belong.

At eleven, when Mr. Death loomed closer than ever, a revolutionary new drug awoke her dormant bone marrow. While I clung to the hope of a normal life, Leta feared losing the hospital—a place where she felt truly safe. More than that, she feared losing her identity as a miracle child, the girl who had defied impossible odds.

To me, the two daily injections required to produce neutrophils seemed a small price to keep Mr. Death at bay. But for Leta, those shots served as a relentless reminder of her fragile health and her uneasy place in the world of opportunity she strove to inhabit with her friends. For the next eight years, she would search for new ways to stand out—to redefine herself beyond illness.

My manuscript tells this story from two perspectives—mine, as a mother fighting for her child’s survival, and through the words my daughter penned as she came of age in a body that constantly thwarted the pursuit of her dreams.

This book will appeal to parents raising children with mental and physical health challenges, for the millions of people who live with invisible diseases, for individuals straddling the healthy-bodied world and the world of illness, and for the amazing nurses, doctors and social workers who care for sick children.

It touches on themes of family trauma, addiction, redemption, medical triumphs and failures, death and grief.

My working title: No Sad Faces.

Publisher: I’m actively seeking representation.