Growing Up with Joey: A Mother's Story of Her Son's Disability and Her Family's Triumph [Hardcover]

Sandy Papazian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

An emotional rollercoaster ride which gives the reader an inside view of the needs, the stresses, and the celebrations of caring and planning for a child with severely involved cerebral palsy, and a rare form of epilepsy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This should be required reading. It will touch, it will hurt, and it will allow us to understand." -- Ronald S. Cohen Executive Director, United Cerebral Palsy of Los Angeles, January, 1997

About the Author

Sandy Papazian earned her B.A. degree in criminology from the University of Calif., Berkeley. She has worked as a juvenile probation officer, and as an associate producer for several television movies, including In the Best Interest of the Child (CBS,1990). She lives in Los Angeles, Calif.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Daniel & Daniel Publishers (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564741842
• ISBN-13: 978-1564741844
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Epilepsy

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Growing Up with Joey, February 17, 2002

By 

Dr. Jack Wetter (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growing Up with Joey: A Mother's Story of Her Son's Disability and Her Family's Triumph (Hardcover)

In addition to being a parent, I am also a Clinical Psychologist who was Director of the Divsion of Pediatric Psychologist within the Dept. of Pediatrics at a major teaching hospital for over 17 years. Ms. Papazian's book is beyond examplary! She shares with the reader not only her personal experiences in the raising of her son with special needs but also the impact that this has on her other children and her marriage. She candidly expresses her experiences with various sub-specialties of Medicine and Developmental Psychology as well as her own personal experiences of what she and her family shared and witnessed first hand at various Hospital Emergency Rooms; sharing most honestly her own interactions with the various staff members who came into contact with her son. This book is a MUST for every parent and professional who ever has any interaction with any 'helping' professional. I highly recommend it to everyone; parents of all children as well as professionals who work with children and their parents. Excellent fund of information that is most valuable to all of us!

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST BOOK FOR EVERYONE'S HOME LIBRARY !, May 22, 2004

By 

Dr. Jack Wetter (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Growing Up with Joey: A Mother's Story of Her Son's Disability and Her Family's Triumph (Hardcover)

Sandy Papazian has written a book that truly is a MUST HAVE in everyone's library! The book clearly documents the various physical as well as psychological stages and coping mechanisms that each member of a famly of the identified patient: Joey goes through...everyone 'grows up with Joey.' The encounters, impediments , frustrations that each of the family members faces are so intricately detailed that the reader often feels that he or she is right there in the Emergency Room with Joey and his doctors. A family's coping mechanisms for effectively interacting with the members of the 'health care' community are clearly documented. Whatever 'disability' a child may have, whether it be emotional/psychological or physical/organic; the resulting impact on his family is one that is so powerful. How this impact can effect a primary family, even the extended family dynamic is beautifully detailed with anectodes that allow readers to develop their own effective coping mechanisms for not only 'growing up with ...' but growing up HEALTHY with their special needs youngster. Once again, I urge you to read this book and share it with all your friends, whether they have a special needs member of their family or not, this is a MUST reading for all families!

5.0 out of 5 stars Grow Richer by Reading this Book, June 16, 2003

By 

James G. Hirsch (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growing Up with Joey: A Mother's Story of Her Son's Disability and Her Family's Triumph (Hardcover)

Sandy Papazian has achieved what most writers can only dream of. She's managed to tell a tragic and compelling personal story in a most entertaining and affecting way, while at the same time never flinching from the sometimes difficult truths that confronted her family after the birth of their youngest son, Joey.
Anyone who ever had their faith shattered, their beliefs questioned, their strength drained, their hopes challenged...should read and learn from this magnificent story. Joey's story may seem, at first, only relatable to those who have family members wth handicaps...but in reading her book, we soon learn that we all have handicaps of one sort or another...and it is how we learn to deal with them that determines the fabric of our lives. In "Growing Up with Joey", Sandy has found a way to define and extract the most beautiful qualities on earth from the most tragic and terrifying of circumstances.
...If you are not transformed into a better person by reading this book, then there is little hope for you to begin with. Don't miss it.