The New Me

March 6, 2019

I miss my son. I miss his face. I miss his bright blue eyes. I miss his gentle manner. I miss the way he would crawl around the house. I miss his smile. And I miss his laugh. God, I miss his laugh. And, I must say, I miss me. Carrying more weight Before Aidan […]

New Resource: The Recovery Village

February 26, 2019

Not too long ago, I did a piece on the New England Center and Home for Veterans. In my research, I studied a lot of statistics on homelessness among our veterans, and they were, to say the very least, disheartening. The word I would prefer to use is “tragic.” According to the National Coalition for […]

RehabCenter.net added to resources page

January 27, 2019

I’ve been foortunate enough to be approached by some incredible charities and nonprofits, asking me to add them to my resources page. Instead of just adding a resource to the page, I’ve asked for people to write a little bit about their organization and who they serve. Our latest resource is RehabCenter.net — an online […]

Empathy, Part One: The Man I wish I could have helped

June 25, 2018

Author’s Note: I’ve been thinking a lot about empathy lately, or as it seems, the total lack thereof. Maybe it’s just me (and I truly hope it is), but I feel as if there is a generally Puritanical attitude towards the less fortunate in this country. Too many seem to believe that if you are […]

A Newborn and a New Hope

April 24, 2018

Arianna Frances Mallio wasn’t even a day old, and so very small. A tiny newborn child, I could hold in the crook of my arm with room to spare. I could cradle her head in the palm of my hand. She was swaddled in blankets, with a little pink hat on her head. Her eyes, […]

For the Love and Rights of Animals

January 16, 2018

Bruce Zeman was in the middle of a lot of things in November of 2009. He was moving back to Vermont, buying a house, getting married, and creating a new morning radio show for 92.1 WVTK-FM, in Middlebury. When he received a call from the Addison County Humane Society in Middlebury, Vermont, asking him to […]

The Day Everything Changed

June 15, 2017

Author’s Note: I always intended for this website to be a vehicle for me telling my own story, but I was concerned about how I would do it. I am not the first person to suffer tragedy, nor will I be the last. I didn’t want it all to be about me and I didn’t […]

Notes from the Road: My Health Insurance by the Numbers

May 21, 2017

Numbers With the passage of health care reform in the House and all it could entail, I began going through my insurance records from 2012-2014, when my acute lymphoblastic leukemia was at its worst. And I found a number I’d like to share with you. That number is: 746,686. That number represents the combined cost […]

Ordinary Heroes: New England Center and Home for Veterans

May 6, 2017

Ordinary Heroes: Boston Cancer Support, Part II

April 25, 2017

BOSTON – When Susan Chaityn Lebovits and Beth Freeman teamed up to form the non-profit Boston Cancer Support (BCS), they wanted to identify and address some of the most pressing needs of cancer patients, their families, and the clinicians who work with them. To do this, BCS holds Cancer Collaborative workshops across the state three […]