Description
The Music of My Life: Finding My Way After My Mother’s MS Diagnosis follows the life of Steve McClain after his mother is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis early in his childhood. He recounts the story of his mother’s life growing up in Northeast Ohio and her struggles with single parenthood and a devastating, chronic illness, at a time when there was very little to no treatment. This work began as a way to tell the story of Steve’s mother, but it is as much her story as it is his own journey as caregiver, son, musician, and MS patient.
About the author
Steve McClain is a singer/songwriter and guitarist based in Nashville, TN. He was born and raised in northeast Ohio and earned a BA and MA in geography at Kent State University. He teaches geography and earth science at Columbia State and Nashville State Community Colleges and music at Franklin Brentwood Arts Academy in Middle Tennessee.
Praise for The Music of My Life
Frank and bracing, Steve McClain’s The Music of My Life shines a spotlight on the relationship between a rebellious Gen X musician-turned-academic and his fiercely stubborn, disabled mother whose caregiving duties fall to her son when he’s a teen. This authentic medical memoir explores the financial, relationship, and health insecurities which confront the mother-son duo as the ground constantly shifts under their feet. A lived-in tale about a cruelly corrosive autoimmune disease and the chaos it inflicts on those in its wake, The Music of My Life takes readers through some rugged, intergenerational emotional terrain.
—Meredith O’Brien, author of Uncomfortably Numb: A Memoir about the Life-Altering Impact of Multiple Sclerosis
So often we hear about chronic illness but cannot possibly under-stand what it means to live with it. Singer and songwriter Steve Mc-Clain reveals the toll that multiple sclerosis took on his mother and how it influenced their relationship. Ultimately this is an optimis-tic book about growing up in small-town Ohio with family heart-break, the comfort of music, and a mother who persisted.
—David H. Kaplan, Professor of Geography and Director of Environmental Studies at Kent State University
From recording artist, Steve McClain, comes the story of how he found his way after his mother’s MS diagnosis. Steve tells his per-sonal and raw story about how he never gave up on life and how he continues to move forward.
—Pat Finney, professional marathon runner and MS patient
