This October Resource Publications published Scratch My Itch by author Cyndy Mamalian, who shares engaging stories about lessons learned and the resilience she has discovered while caring for her mother, who had ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, while sharing with readers the frustrations and horrors of the disease.
Proceeds from the book will go to support ALS research, which Mamalian believes is one small ways the world can infuse hope into a disease that currently offers none.
Her authentic and uncomfortably honest story is equal parts love letter, confession and comedy and is good company for anyone who has loved and cared for another person.
One small snippet: “There is clearly a right and wrong shade of lipstick for a person in a casket, the revolving door of home health aides is like a very bad version of the TV show The Bachelor, and an ALS diagnosis makes scratching an itch feel as frustrating and futile as putting in contact lenses while wearing mittens.”
Mamalian holds a PhD in criminology and is a storyteller and writer, and a mother of three. After a brief career writing federal grant solicitations and research reports in the field of criminal justice, she redirected her love of writing to memoir after spending three years living with and caring for her mother who had ALS. In 2021, she was awarded second place in Bethesda Magazine’s essay contest for an essay titled “Pink, Berry, Plum Maybe, but Never Peach” which is one chapter in her memoir Scratch My Itch. She is a Development Director at a private Episcopal school, and lives in Potomac, MD with her husband.
Scratch My Itch: A Caregiver’s Honest, Humorous, and Healing Stories About the Horrors of ALS
