Rising Up!: My Recovery from Multiple Sclerosis, Disability and Despair, including Western and Chinese Medicine, Tai Chi, Qigong, diet, prayer, meditation, love and miracles.

Rising UP! chronicles Anna York's physical, social and spiritual transformation as she makes a remarkable journey:

• From a white, Protestant, rural community to multi-cultural Chicago
• From serious disability caused by multiple sclerosis to health and wholeness 
• From suspicion of eastern healing arts as "strange" and "dangerous" to healing with the help of a Tai Chi master and Traditional Chinese Medicine
• From anti-feminist roots to ordination as a handicapped female in a Southern Baptist church
• From being regarded as a "saint" to being rejected by friends because of her "un-Christian" mode of healing
• From beef and potatoes to a vegetarian diet
• From being uninsurable for over two decades to being approved for a $100,000 life insurance policy
• From confusion about what has happened to insight and joy

Multiple sclerosis, a disease Anna has had for over forty years, crippled her, caused her excruciating pain, put her in a wheelchair and an electric scooter, and wreaked havoc on all aspects of her life. In 1996, she began an extraordinary journey of healing that reversed time and disability, restoring her to a vibrant, healthy life. Her story is a passionate one of loss, despair, faith and hope. It speaks of the treasures of healing and wholeness that can be discovered when we learn to trust and share across the boundaries of race, culture and religion.It also discloses the pain and rejection that can occur when transformation takes place outside one's accustomed social and cultural milieu. Most of all, it is a story of the triumph of the human spirit over impossible odds-a story that invites all of us to Rise UP! and meet the challenges we face in life with faith, hope and joy.