Traci Medford-Rosow is the award-winning author of bestseller Inflection Point: War and Sacrifice in Corporate America. She is also the author of Data Exclusivity: Encouraging Development of New Medicines, as well as numerous op-eds published by Pharmaceutical Executive on key pharmaceutical issues. Traci is a partner in the New York City law firm Richardson & Rosow. Previously, she worked at Pfizer for thirty years as Senior Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, Global Head of IP Litigation, and General Counsel of Europe. She is the founder of The College Education Milestone Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping high-performing students attend college. Traci lives in New York City and Mahopac, New York with her husband. They have two adult children. Kevin Coughlin has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows. He inspired a CNN story chronicling his experience living as a blind person in New York City, which was instrumental in establishing New York City's first blind advocacy program. His story, Blind Injustice, was featured on the CBS evening news. He lives in New York City with his beloved dog, Elias.
"Unblinded is a once-in-a-lifetime story, a journey through
darkness and light, love and loss, awakening and discovery. Its
pages take us, at once, on a remarkable true adventure and into the
heart and mind of a most extraordinary individual. A beautifully
written and inspiring tale, and a reminder to us all about what
really matters."
-ROBERT KURSON, New York Times bestselling author of
Crashing Through, Shadow Divers, and Pirate
Hunters
"Unblinded tells a remarkable story of sudden blindness,
new vision, and sight regained. It offers great insight into the
nature of reality--that which we perceive and that which we create
for ourselves."
-ISAAC LIDSKY, New York Times bestselling author of Eyes
Wide Open"Unblinded provides honest, profound insight into the
emotional trauma that occurs when vision is lost and the path
forward in life cannot be seen."
-LISSA POINCENOT, National Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy
Advocate "Miracles can happen from the inside out. In
Unblinded, Traci Medford-Rosow leads us through the wondrous
story of one man's experience of overcoming blindness.
Unblinded takes the reader on a fascinating,
behind-the-scenes tour of what went on during those years of
darkness and how Kevin Coughlin, after battling alcoholism,
loneliness, prejudice, and perhaps most of all himself, emerges as
a man of wisdom and sight."
-ANN CAMPANELLA, Award-winning and bestselling author of
Motherhood: Lost and Found"A tale about overcoming personal
tragedy risks sentimentality. Unblinded offers instead a sightless
perspective on reality that could engage a physicist."
-PROF. NEIL J. SULLIVAN, Author: The Prometheus Bomb and The
Dodgers Move WestThis biography chronicles a man's sudden vision
loss, his self-reinvention, and his seemingly miraculous partial
recovery of sight.
In New York City in February 1997, Coughlin's sight began
deteriorating. Five days later, he was completely blind-stricken in
his 30s by a rare, irreversible genetic disorder of the optic nerve
that normally affects teens and young adults. Already
alcohol-dependent, he was soon unemployed and dependent on
disability checks. He confronted countless challenges in navigating
city life, including physical barriers, inconsiderate strangers,
and bureaucratic delays. In his favor, however, were his
persistence and his preternatural ability to enlist help from
others. For example, he persuaded a clerk to sell him a cane
without the required mobility certification, and an ally at Gay
Men's Health Crisis helped him join a support group of HIV-positive
blind people even though he was upfront about being HIV-negative.
He continued to pursue his love of visual arts and photography by
engaging a curator to narrate museum visits and a sighted
Alcoholics Anonymous colleague to help take pictures. Coughlin also
achieved sobriety and took up meditation, prayer, and ayurvedic
practices. His physical and spiritual health improved, which helped
him deal with the loss of another job and a beloved guide dog.
Fifteen years after becoming blind, his sight began to return, but
he already saw life differently. He began a journal (reprinted as
an appendix), in which he cites "patience, prayer and turmeric" as
"the corner stones of my journey out of the darkness." Each chapter
closes with a selected journal entry, foreshadowing and eventually
merging with the narrative. Medford-Rosow (Inflection Point, 2015)
and debut author Coughlin skillfully condense two decades into 33
easy-to-read vignettes about Coughlin's challenges, setbacks, and
breakthroughs. This results in a multilayered account that works on
several levels, offering granular details of the blindness
experience, detailing the difference between physical sight and
personal vision, and highlighting the redemptive power of healing.
The authors convey Coughlin's spirituality and faith without being
preachy, and they balance poignant moments with workaday complaints
and unvarnished assessments of Coughlin's behavior and
relationships. The patient delivery allows this truly exceptional
story to speak for itself.
An emotional account of a remarkable personal odyssey.
-Kirkus Starred Review
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