Eight Fingers and Eight Toes: Accepting Life's Challenges

Candid and stirring, Eight Fingers and Eight Toes: Accepting Life's Challenges shares the incredibly moving, unforgettable story of Debbie Jorde, a mother of two children born with a rare, physically disabling disorder called Miller Syndrome that affects only thirty people worldwide. For her, it wasn't so much about taking the path less traveled, but being forced on an odyssey in which she would redefine her definition of happiness, success, and perfection. This memoir shares a wealth of knowledge about and personal experience with Miller syndrome. While problems surrounding her children's health issues are the centerpieces of the narrative, divorce, single motherhood, and an eating disorder also play a pivotal role. With astonishing honesty and clarity, she recounts her children's struggles with physical disabilities, attention deficit disorder, and autism while opening up about her own life challenges and how the family was the first family to ever have their entire genome sequenced. As a result, the Miller syndrome gene was identified and detailed on the cover of "The New York Times" and "The Los Angeles Times" in March of 2010. While this is a watershed moment in her life, her memoir illustrates the personal side of this inspiring and powerful story and shows how her children, now in their thirties, deal with seemingly endless daily challenges and how it is they've learned to create their own happiness one day at time day in and day out.