About the Author

Marie Killilea is the author of two bestselling books, Karen and With Love from Karen. In 1940, Marie’s daughter Karen was born three months premature, measuring only nine inches and weighing less than two pounds. It would take years for doctors to diagnose her with cerebral palsy, and even more to find proper treatment. When the family was told that they should put her in an asylum and forget about her, which was what many others did at the time, they refused and instead took on the daunting challenge of treating her at home. Confined to a wheelchair since her teens, Karen learned to walk with crutches, write, and even swim, after years of painstaking work. She later became a receptionist at the Trinity Retreat House in Larchmont, New York, where she worked for almost forty years. Marie died in 1991, followed by her husband two years later. Karen resides in an accessible apartment in Larchmont, living a happy life, continuing to be an inspiration to all around her.
 

Reviews

“A warm and winning and spirited account of a young mother’s attempt to overcome the liabilities of cerebral palsy, and to refute the first medical verdict that her little girl would have ‘an existence but no life’ . . . A gallant account, in very human terms.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A wonderful story of human courage, patience, and triumph. But you’ll want to read it most for Karen’s own words: ‘I can walk, I can talk. I can read. I can write. I can do anything.’” —The New York Times

“Extraordinary is the word to be used first, last, and repeatedly about this book. . . . Anyone who meets Karen, even on paper, will postpone resigning from the human race.” —Saturday Review