Publisher's Synopsis
This is a true story of love, loss, cancer, corruptive medicine, lies, betrayal, despair, and finally, the lessons from the myriad types of pain that don't kill you, but make you stronger...For Olena, life had always been a competition with herself and a mission to live up to her family's expectations. She was educated and well-prepared to become successful and respected in her field-but the one thing that no one ever teaches you is how to cope with the pain that threatens to swallow you up as you travel along life's path. How does it feel to see your mother dying, knowing you are unable to save her? How does that compare to the pain of losing trust? How painful can it be to be an immigrant, a foreigner, when your life is torn between countries and continents? What does it mean to be orphaned as a young adult, bereft of many of your closest family and friends? Above all, how can we make sense of all these different types of pain, how can we take care of them and use them to grow?It's taken 20 years for these experiences to find their way onto paper, and for Olena to share what she has learnt from holding-and letting go of-Mama's Hands.
