This book should have been titled The Heart of the Lion, as that's what beats inside the story and its heroine, a girl from Hong Kong overcome by a disease of uncontrollable trembling and twitching.
This memoir follows Yee through a young life riddled with challenges -- a string of misdiagnoses of a puzzling and crippling disease, migrating to a new country (USA) as a child, assimilating into a new culture, living with an abusive father, surviving a brutal assault -- that were met with a stern determination to take control of her life. Despite being placed in Special Education because of her physical problems and slurred speech, Yee's commitment to bettering her life, and her strong faith, earned her a college degree and a career as a social worker. It wasn't until 1995 that Yee was finally diagnosed with dopa-responsive dystonia and was able to receive treatment.
Yee's story is candid, tragic, intriguing and inspiring. We hear many stories about people being challenged by chronic illness. But Yee's life has featured layer upon layer of hurdles that most of us cannot even imagine. Though she may have been tripped up on occasion, she got up, brushed herself off, and forged forward to the realization of her goals.
I found this book to be truly fascinating and feel grateful that Yee shared it with me. As much as I learned from it, I was left wanting to know more detail about how her disease impacted her school years, her intimate relationships, her career, and her marriage. I want to know what this amazing young woman is going to do next. And I feel moved to learn more about this devastating disease.
The Eyes of the Lion is available in paperback and for Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/The-Eyes-Lion-Cindy-Kong/dp/1458212394.
This memoir follows Yee through a young life riddled with challenges -- a string of misdiagnoses of a puzzling and crippling disease, migrating to a new country (USA) as a child, assimilating into a new culture, living with an abusive father, surviving a brutal assault -- that were met with a stern determination to take control of her life. Despite being placed in Special Education because of her physical problems and slurred speech, Yee's commitment to bettering her life, and her strong faith, earned her a college degree and a career as a social worker. It wasn't until 1995 that Yee was finally diagnosed with dopa-responsive dystonia and was able to receive treatment.
Yee's story is candid, tragic, intriguing and inspiring. We hear many stories about people being challenged by chronic illness. But Yee's life has featured layer upon layer of hurdles that most of us cannot even imagine. Though she may have been tripped up on occasion, she got up, brushed herself off, and forged forward to the realization of her goals.
I found this book to be truly fascinating and feel grateful that Yee shared it with me. As much as I learned from it, I was left wanting to know more detail about how her disease impacted her school years, her intimate relationships, her career, and her marriage. I want to know what this amazing young woman is going to do next. And I feel moved to learn more about this devastating disease.
The Eyes of the Lion is available in paperback and for Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/The-Eyes-Lion-Cindy-Kong/dp/1458212394.