In A Flower Grows in Stone: A Diary of a Life in Progress, first-time author Anisah Hassan weaves together diary entries from her past to compose a passionate and candid memoir about her experiences living with the rare neurological disorder stiff person syndrome (SPS).
Diagnosed incorrectly with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the age of 22, it took Hassan years to get a correct diagnosis, during which she suffered from the muscle pain and emotional distress that accompany her condition. When she finally was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, she learned that she was one of only 300 individuals living with the disability in the U.S.
Stiff Person Syndrome Emotional Symptoms
One of the most difficult parts of living with the rare disability is the fact that many of its physical symptoms are triggered by emotional stimuli. For this reason, Hassan has had to discipline her feelings, a process which has inhibited her ability to express herself.
“The very nature of the condition is such that it prevents people from rendering a full and complete expression of the Self,” she writes. “In an instance of cheerfulness, I must be careful not to be too elated. Conversely, in times of sorrow, I cannot be too depressed.”
In addition to the debilitating symptoms of the stiff person syndrome, Hassan has combated the ignorance of many of her friends and co-workers. Since her condition is so rare, many incorrectly believe it is just a figment of her emotion, which has caused Hassan to experience discrimination and prejudice in various settings.
In one poignant anecdote, she painstakingly describes an incident at her workplace in which she forgot her cane in a meeting room. When she returned to reclaim it, one of her co-workers proclaimed, “She doesn’t really need that cane, if she did she would never have left it.”
Relying on Spirituality
Although there are many incidents of pain, prejudice, and difficulty that Hassan relays in the book, her strongest writing comes through her expression of the power of spirituality to overcome adversity. While she bemoans the fact that stiff person syndrome has depressed her extroverted nature, she believes that the “crisis” of her stiff person syndrome has assisted her transformation to a more purposeful role in life.
“Sufferers have a unique perspective on life, in that we prioritize that which is truly meaningful, enduring,” she writes. “To endure a crisis with grace may be, to the masses, easier said than done, but when one dwells daily within a body’s betrayal, one has to choose either to rise above the pain or allow it to engulf and consume every ounce of the physical Self.”
With these guiding principles in tow, A Flower Grows in Stone takes on a blithe, optimistic tone. And although stiff person syndrome may have been the impetus for the book, its theme is more centered upon reflecting the joys, miseries, moments, and reveries that make up life than on the condition itself.
From her deep bonds with her sisters to a surprise reunion with her long-lost father, Hassan picks and chooses slices of her life that are genuine, warming, and capable of resonating with any reader seeking a book that exemplifies the power of the human spirit to overcome.
