Paperback – 6X9, 438 pgs
ISBN 978-0-989566179
Ebook 978-0-989566186
Book Awards
Kenna Marriott knows how catastrophic illness and the death of a loved one dramatically affect someone’s life. When her daughter and closest friend, Jeannine, passed away after seven and a half years battling cancer, Marriott’s life was altered.
Grieving propelled her to make major changes. Marriott closed her successful Organization Development Consulting firm in Pennsylvania, and moved to Florida. Emotionally buffeted, she journaled over 2,000 pages of writing about what she and her daughter had gone through together. Only her writing kept her daughter’s memory close to her. She struggled with how to make sense of the loss of her child. And then, something strange happened. With every keystroke, Marriott felt her Jeannine beside her and that they had been given a purpose, a calling to write the lessons, learnings and insights about what they had been through and to share it with others who had cancer or a life-threatening illness, especially their families and friends.
JEANNINE MONGELLI was forty years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a two-year battle and a short remission, the cancer metastasized in her backbone. It was aggressive and incurable. In Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda, author Kenna P. Marriott, Jeannine’s mother, shares her daughter’s intimate story. It weaves both mothers and daughter’s perspectives, feelings, and points of view to show the impact of cancer on the patient and the family. Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda follows Jeannine from just before her breast cancer diagnosis through the next seven and a half years. It reveals the progression of her illness, the milestones that held the greatest lessons, and Marriott’s response as a loving mother. It covers the end of Jeannine’s struggle and what happened after her death, because the story doesn’t end there. Enlightening and inspiring, Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda presents both a tribute to Jeannine and a self-help guide to assist other patients and families who are facing the challenges of dealing with a life-threatening illness or struggling with loss and death. This memoir reveals one woman’s battle with cancer so others understand what she endured and get a glimpse of what they might encounter. It communicates that catastrophic illness is not just one person’s disease; it impacts everyone who cares about them.