If you are a caregiver or about to become a caregiver, “One Caregiver’s Journey” is a MUST read. This personal memoir will make you laugh or tug at your heart as the author shares her experiences about providing 24/7 care to her mother for 9 ½ years until her mother’s death at age 102. The book is an easy read, honestly written and provides suggestions and information that can be utilized by all caregivers. The author wrote the book over a long period of time and it is a snapshot into the reality of the stages, changes, and many challenges caregivers face over time. It is a caregiver’s blueprint. Reading this book, you will feel as though you are in the author’s living room and she is telling her story and offering an abundance of advice and information.
“Excerpts”
I believe you learn so much about yourself during difficult times and in the end, you can become a stronger, more resilient, and more caring human being. The best part about caregiving is the opportunity it provides for one to grow, to improve and to conquer fear and challenges, so long as it is done with honesty, humor and love.
At some point in their journey, every caregiver will ask themselves, “When did I go from being an adult child to the parent?” For some the transition is lightning fast due to illness or an accident. For others, it is a long process that evolves over time with age and age-related health issues.
Reviews
Gacetta’s book is indeed a primer for anyone considering taking on a caregiver role, and a tribute to her “wonderful and loving” parent. Underlying her intimate recollections is the unspoken strength that she herself possesses and amply demonstrates in this vivid book, One Caregiver’s Journey. Read More
– Pacific Book Review
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One Caregiver’s Journey by Eleanor Gaccetta is a heartwarming memoir that documents the author’s experience for almost ten years as a caregiver. It is a memoir of love, a story that is filled with humanity and compassion. The author writes beautifully about the period of transition when her life changed by necessary. She offers tips on how to navigate the challenges of the work, what to focus on, and things to avoid. Caring for others helped the author to deepen her sense of purpose and to connect more intimately with her own humanity. Her contact with the vulnerability in her family has helped her to develop a tolerant, reverent attitude towards life and others. This is the first memoir of this kind I have read, and I love the style, the insightful writing, the heartfelt humor and the utter honest with which the author shares her story. This is a memoir with powerful lessons on the art of caring for others and what it means to be deeply human. A book to read and pass on.
– Romauld Dzemo
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One Caregiver’s Journey by Eleanor Gaccetta is a story of a daughter who lost her father when she was young, so when the time came for her mother she did what she had to do and became the primary caregiver. Becoming the sole caregiver of a loved one is not an easy job, especially if that loved one is your parent. The author is very brace to open her life for the reader and give them strength from her experiences as she took care of her mother. I have a lot of respect for the author putting her life on hold to make sure that her mother never had to suffer. The book was very emotional, yet it was so lighthearted at the same time. I loved how Eleanor tried her best to make her mother smile, even when she was breaking apart inside. I’m sure this story is going to ack like a soothing balm for many people and be the warm hug that they crave. Exceptionally moving!
– Rabis Tanveer
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What is it really to be a full-time caregiver? This is the question that is answered in-depth by Eleanor Gaccetta in her book One Caregiver’s Journey. The book is full of handy tips in coping with increasingly difficult behavior as her mother lost the power to reason, hold a conversation and even control of her bodily functions. The author pulls no punches and does not sugar-coat the more unpleasant aspects of day to day living. She is not only the author she is also a saint. Her devotion to every detail of her aging mother’s care is beyond amazing. In terms of structure, interest and descriptive passages, Eleanor writes with clarity and complete honesty. Not only did Eleanor keep her mother at home until the very end, but she also did it with joy, love, optimism and faith. She managed to find the humor in situations most of us would never be able to handle. Filled with many good tips and advice, this book is a must-read for anyone who is caring for or thinking of becoming a caregiver to an elderly person. An honest and impressive book. Her devotion took my breath away.
– By Lucinda E. Clarke
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“The life of a caregiver! What life” One Caregiver’s Journey by Eleanor Gaccetta is a combination non-fiction memoir and quasi self-help guide by the author who spent most of her life looking after her parents and their siblings when poor health worked its way through her Italian-American family. Throughout every ordeal, Gaccetta learned to maneuver through the legal and practical sides of being a full-time caregiver, sharing her lessons and experience as she shares the story of a life she wouldn’t change for anything.
One Caregiver’s Journey by Eleanor Gaccetta does an exceptional job of highlighting virtually every aspect of being a caregiver, delivering everything within its pages with wit, empathy and an immeasurable amount of compassion. The book is, on its surface, a memoir – an autobiography written by and about a woman who devoted her life to her family. At its core, this book is a guide for caregivers who are in the same or similar situation (and those who may be in the future). There is so much information that is provided it should be a staple reference for even those who work in the care industry. Absolutely and very enthusiastically recommended.
– Reviewed by Asher Syed
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One Caregiver’s Journey is a work of emotive and insightful non-fiction penned by Eleanor Gaccetta. Written in the form of a memoir, the work describes a very personal experience by the author of almost ten years of care when looking after her mother.
Personal memoirs rely on powerful voices to carry their readability, and author Eleanmor Gaccetta presents great clarity but also immense honest and heart in her realistic account of her life as a caregiver for her mother. The prose flows with confidence and excellent editing but also leaves space to breathe and consider the emotion and physical strain put upon family members in a caring position. One of the things I loved most was the juxtaposition of this honesty and practical information against a strong sense of hindsight and perspective in which the author is able to look back with love and fondness for her mother and teach other to recognize the important time that they spend caring for loved ones. Overall, One Caregiver’s Journey is a reliable and honest resource to help others through their caring journey and a heartfelt memoir tribute not to be missed.
– Reviewed by K. C. Finn