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A compelling book that honestly acknowledges the struggles family caregivers face every day, Suzanne Geffen Mintz’s A Family Caregiver Speaks Up (2007) has been recognized as perhaps the best starting place for those new to this challenging role. However, this updated version of Love, Honor & Value (2002) by the president and co-founder of the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) will also resonate with those who have been caregiving for years. The author describes a journey shared by she and her husband Steven that has been unpredictable, rewarding, scary, sad, funny, and above all, a personal triumph not only over extraordinarily difficult personal circumstances, but also those emotions so familiar to family caregivers, depression and despair.

Thirty-four years ago, Mintz’s husband Steven was diagnosed with MS, a disease in which progression and symptoms vary from person to person, making day-to-day life difficult to plan and the future impossible to foretell.  For example, Mintz details her frustration when Steven needed a wheelchair much earlier than they’d expected. She also shares how pervasive her caretaker persona had become when during one terrible night when Steven was gone, a stranger broke into her house and raped her. Obviously traumatized by the rape itself, one of her first thoughts was nevertheless how much worse it could’ve been had Steven been home.