A Labor of Love, Volume 1

Book excerpt: You hold the first of two volumes of one giant love story in your hands! In essence, this story is about Anna Arapakos’ father and how she came to care for him when he was elderly; this phenomenon is a universal experience all will share or witness in one capacity or another. If you are interested in probing into life’s hows and whys, you will appreciate the information she shares in this first volume. Here, you’ll discover the science behind Huntington’s disease (HD) and her Greek father’s life from birth until age sixty through carefully chosen family stories that bring to life historical facts that shaped his outlook and foundational experiences. That way, you will have a baseline to see how HD impacts and distorts certain inherent features, ways, and tendencies of her father. You will learn about genetics, neurology, and critical characteristics of this rare and progressive disease and will be able to distinguish it from other neurodegenerative diseases. She shares this foundational information on HD so you can appreciate how and why changes occur at every level — intellectual, physical, psycho-emotional, and spiritual. In A Labor of Love, Vol. 1: Understanding Hercules, Miss Arapakos’ father is “Hercules,” and the portion of the myth she shares in this volume revolves around everything in Hercules’ life before he undertakes the labors for which he has become so well-known. Here is also where she recounts her father’s cultural-historical background and the essentials of Huntington’s disease, including its features, the genetic backdrop, its impact on the brain, and much more. Then, she proceeds to make apt analogies between Hercules and her father during the formative years; this book stops at the point when her dad retires and his disease really “kicks in.”