The Inspiration Behind Guiding Emily
Have you ever heard a story that changed your life?
Within thirty minutes of stepping through the Foundation for Blind Children’s doorway, my life found its new purpose and mission.
I’ve lived down the street from The Foundation for Blind Children for decades. I’d never been inside. The Foundation’s Development Director, Steve Pawlowski, encouraged my husband and I to come for a tour with such enthusiasm and pride that we felt we couldn’t decline.
The Foundation provides education, tools, and services for “children” from birth through one hundred and four. From observing teachers working one-on-one with students with multiple disabilities, to seeing the six-year-old child from Canada running and hugging staff even though his parents had been told by their Canadian doctor he would never walk or talk, to photos displayed on the wall of the group of blind teens and young adults who had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, I was moved beyond measure.
Choking back tears, I asked Steve how I could help. What did the Foundation need? His answer was simple and straightforward: (1) funding, and (2) to raise awareness of problems that visually impaired people face within the sighted community.
I’m an author and knew that a novel could address both of these issues.
The story line of my new series was born in that moment.
Guiding Emily is the first book in a series and is a love story between Garth, a guide dog, and Emily Main, his handler who loses her eyesight on her honeymoon. It’s the heartwarming/heartbreaking/poignant tale of their journey together.
Half the profits from Guiding Emily will be donated to The Foundation for Blind Children. For the price of a book, every reader receives a novel that will provide a welcome respite from daily life and supports a remarkable organization that believes vision loss is a diagnosis, NOT a disability. What could be better than that?
Join the movement to improve lives: learn more about Guiding Emily. Half of the proceeds from the book will be donated to The Foundation for Blind Children.
Read about the Guide Dog graduation I attended here.
Read about my white cane training here.
