Helena Hjalmarsson - Finding Lina: A Mothers Journey from Autism to Hope

Praise for Finding Lina

I n this honest memoir, Hjalmarsson (a psychoanalyst with a masters degree in child development) conveys the frustrations and the triumphs of raising an autistic daughter. She also explains how a special-needs kid affects the rest of the family The family tries everything, including acupuncture, herbal remedies, and dietary changes, while Hjalmarsson remains remarkably positive. She taught me to take life as it is, she writes. She showed me how to be happy and laughing in the midst of sorrow and loss. A passionate book for families with special-needs children.Karen Springen, Booklist

The authors positive, optimistic attitude and her thorough descriptions of therapies will be helpful to the parents and caretakers of autistic children. Kirkus Reviews

An inspirational and brave story of Helenas journey to help her daughter. A positive reminder that we learn so much from our children and that each one shines in their own special way.Jenny McCarthy, bestselling author, activist, and actress

Not only a mothers painfully honest account of coming to terms with her daughters autism, but an offering of insight and new possibility to parents facing similar situations, This is a story that resonates beyond the specific illness, with a universality both heart-rending and inspiring.Dick Russell, New York Times bestselling author

Finding Lina s charm is its laser focus on what it means to accept and be nourished by lifes brutal realities--how deep connections require you to truly listen, rather than just to hear, and to keep looking, even when you cant see. This isnt a book about autism, this is a love story.Jeni Decker, author of I Wish I Were Engulfed in Flames

A gritty, real, intense immersion into autism. You find yourself not as a distant reader but living in the minds and hearts of the parents and the unspeakable discomfort of trying to anticipate and hold the confusion of this problem. The book is a living testimony to overcoming in order to make the family whole and turning suffering into joy.Leslie Stein, author of Becoming Whole

Plato said of the journey of life that the first and best victory is to conquer self. Those of us with a child on the spectrum are instructed in this maxim. In Finding Lina , Hjalmarsson takes us on a journey of transformation with heart and honesty, applicable to not only the challenges of autism but to the trials life hands us all.Ken Siri, author of 1,001 Tips for the Parents of Autistic Boys and co-author of Cutting Edge Therapies for Autism

I love how Hjalmarsson completely dispels the theory of the refrigerator mother. She also depicts with grace how she gathers and coordinates the army of people needed to support one special needs child. Hjalmarsson is an inspiration!Professor Gayle DeLong, Baruch College, City of University of New York

A brave and honest book about the journey of one family to overcome the challenge of autism and to build a life of meaning for the child they love.Louis Conte, board member, Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy

An honest and insightful account of a mothers terrifying and courageous odyssey searching for answers, and ultimately discovering solutions all in the name of her precious daughter, Lina. For anyone who has been through a soul-shaking tragedy, Finding Lina is a testament to the power of the human spirit. Helenas unwavering determination demonstrates how ones love for a child can ignite a deep and powerful strength, capable of battling any beasteven autism.Mary Coyle, Homeopath and Director of the Real child Center

Finding Lina is a poignant narrative of a mothers struggle to lovingly care for a daughter with severe health challenges. The book is at once heartwarming and heartrending, faithfully depicting the extraordinary world of autism parenting.Mary Holland, co-founder, the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy (EBCALA); co-editor, Vaccine Epidemic

This book is intense and I can only marvel at how much can be asked of a parent. Im sure much of Helenas strength comes from her deep spiritual beliefs and from being a dedicated mother who knows she can never stop. Just as Diary of a Young Girl about Anne Frank put a human face on the Holocaust, books like Finding Lina reveal the truth about what autism can do to a child. I just wonder how many more books like this will have to be written before we finally wake up.Anne Dachel, Media Editor, Age of Autism and author of The Big Autism Cover-Up

A poignant look at life raising a daughter on the spectrum and how the entire family unit is affected by the epidemic. And how a family raises above it.Kim Stagliano, author of All I Can Handle and 101 Tips for the Parents of Girls with Autism

Finding Lina is a story of undaunted courage, hope and love. Parents of children with special needs will be gripped by the honest portrayal of what families endure under unimaginable circumstances. All readers will be drawn into the herculean effort to find answers that lead to a healthier, more fulfilling life.Mary Romaniec, autism advocate, and author of Victory Over Autism

Copyright 2013, 2016 by Helena Hjalmarsson

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Cover designed by Brian Peterson

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-5107-0418-3

Printed in the United States of America

I dedicate this book to Elsa Hjalmarsson Lyons, the most emphatic, generous, loving, funny, and intrinsically beautiful little sister Lina could ever wish for.

My deepest gratitude to Tony Austin Lyons, who made it possible for me to publish this book, who is the kind of father only very lucky little girls get, and without whom it would have been extremely difficult to give to both my daughters what they need. He is a dear friend forever .

Lilly Golden, my editor, with her sensible intelligence, fearless integrity and humor, made this book so much better and the process of working on it easy and effortless. And my appreciation and thanks go to Mike Lewis, for his patient and kind editing of the updated version/paperback.

I am also eternally grateful for my best friends, my soul-sisters, Gabriella Ossoniak and Agnieszka Pawliszyn-Carmona. I can see us all on a shady porch one day when were old and gray, animals and grandkids running in and out of the house while we are just sitting there in our comfortable rocking chairs, making jokes about our crazy lives while looking out on the vast ocean, knowing it was all good, there was nothing missing, nothing to fix or regret

And Malidoma. Thank you for everything you saw and for everything you shared.

Foreword

I ts not often that you hear the words gift and autism in the same sentence. Especially not when its a struggling parent trying to make sense of this often baffling, always challenging, enigma. Yet as an autism parent myself I know the gifts of autism wellthe extraordinary memory, the keen, quirky yet always insightful and piercing intelligence, the stunning lack of ego.