My Unexpected Life Spotlight
Finding Balance Beyond My Diagnosis
Memoir
Date Published: September 7, 2023
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Jennifer Gasner is seventeen when her dreams are shattered overnight.
Receiving a diagnosis of Friedreich’s Ataxia, a rare genetic
neuromuscular disease, means she must prepare herself for a life of loss.
When she starts college, she can still walk on her own, but as her disease
progresses, she spirals further into sadness, denial, and alienation. She
turns to alcohol and a toxic relationship to distract her from what she
refuses to accept—that her body, her self-esteem, and her hope for her
future are failing.
When Jennifer develops a friendship with rock star Dave Matthews, her
outlook changes. She begins to understand that using a wheelchair
doesn’t mean her life is over. In fact, when she discovers disability
culture, she realizes it’s not her body that needs to be fixed but her
assumptions about being disabled.
In her captivating memoir, My Unexpected Life: Finding Balance Beyond My
Diagnosis, Jennifer invites you into her world, where she must learn to view
her changing body with compassion and choose gratitude over anger as she
finds strength and acceptance in a whole new way of moving through
life.
About the Author
Jennifer Gasner received her BA in English from the University of
Wisconsin-Platteville and her MS in recreation from Western Illinois
University. Her work with Independent Living Centers enabled her to learn
about various disability programs throughout the country and ignited her
passion for disability culture. She relocated to San Diego, California, on
her own at the age of twenty-eight.
As a mentor for What’s Next, a program for youth with disabilities,
and as co-chair of UC San Diego’s Staff Association for staff with
disabilities, Jennifer solidified her role in the San Diego disability
community. In 2020, Jennifer became an ambassador for the Friedreich’s
Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA), raising awareness about Friedreich’s
Ataxia (FA). She participated in Rare Across America, meeting with
legislators to discuss laws affecting more than 25 million Americans living
with one or more rare diseases.
Jennifer is a member of the San Diego Memoir Writers Association, and
her writing has been published in Shaking the Tree, volumes 3 and 4. In her
free time, she enjoys yoga, movies, and traveling. She lives with her
boyfriend Gregory and their dog. My Unexpected Life: Finding Balance Beyond
My Diagnosis is her first book.
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