We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Falcon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.
Emily , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I was born in 1982 and at seven weeks old, I had a heart attack that destroyed forty percent of the left side of my heart. I was diagnosed with a cardiac condition. This was my entry into a world of multiple cardiac procedures, surgeries, and hospitalizations, and a later diagnosis of glaucoma. Balancing this serious condition defined my life.
I have written a memoir that chronicles my lifelong journey with a congenital cardiac condition. From the Sidelines to the Finish Line: A Chronic Illness Survivor’s Challenges and Everyday Triumphs details how an eight-inch chest scar from my first open-heart surgery at age six, multiple daily medications, modified physical school activities, and frequent trips to doctors broadcast to the world that I was different. My memoir is a story of survival and of how my physical situation shaped and limited me, as well as of how I was able to make modifications to allow me to do the things I dreamed of. I never surrendered, never wavered. I always forged onward.
In 2017, at age thirty-five, after a lifetime of feeling that nothing could ever change, I had a second open-heart surgery and went from being unable to run more than a few yards to developing as an athlete who participated in my first athletic event, a 5K race, just eight months after open-heart surgery. I was no longer stuck on the sidelines. My new unrestricted life freed me to move away from the comfort of my medical team and family in Boston to Alaska, where physical challenges were part of everyday life.
The skills and knowledge of my medical team, endless support from my family, and my own dogged perseverance enabled me to live a life no one ever dreamed was possible. No one and nothing, least of all my body, is holding me back anymore. I want to fully explore my abilities after a lifetime of restrictions and live my motto to the fullest: “Don’t waste a second.” By sharing aspects of my journey, I hope my insights can inspire people who doubt their own resilience.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Unlike survivors of sudden traumatic illness or accidents that saddled them with newly acquired limitations, I have an uncommon perspective, from both a child’s and adult’s point of view, having experienced a rare chronic illness from birth.
I love travel and animals, both of which have helped me get through difficult times. While living a constrained life, I have sought out adventures whenever I can, such as trekking up volcanoes to observe mountain gorillas in Uganda, volunteering with cheetahs and baboons in Namibia, playing with wolves at the Arctic Circle, and eating with orangutans in Singapore. I am now an athlete who participates in a weekly run club and runs in 5K races throughout the year. I hope to inspire others who have health limitations to never waste a moment and not let life pass them by. Not many memoirs combine Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Glaucoma, running and travel. The book launch date is November 7, 2023, and it can be ordered through links on my website.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
To other self-published authors I’d say:
- Research- understand how to self-publish and read other memoirs
- Determination- you have to self-motivate, figure things out on your own, hire staff, and set up business accounts. These are things that I never wanted to do or have experience with but I did it, even though I thought they were too hard to accomplish.
- Connections- work with people who are experts or can connect you with people who can give you advice. Reach out, most of the time people will want to help you!
For everyone I’d advise, keep going and if you feel it’s too much, take a break and come back to it. If your goal like mine is to help others, don’t give up because you will impact someone’s life when you’re done!
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I am looking for readers! Also, anyone who can help publicize my book to get it out there to sell it broadly and get it recognized, that’s greatly appreciated.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.babyheartspress.com/emily-falcon
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/from_sidelines_to_finish_line/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091344267879
