Cheryl was invited by Caz Cazanov, her close friend and an early reader of One Blink at a Time, to fly to Northern California to make a surprise appearance at Caz’s book club meeting in Lafayette, CA. Cheryl enthusiastically agreed.
Cheryl had a wonderful time visiting Caz and her family and spending the evening chatting with the members of the book club, answering questions about her and Ismail and their book. The group was interested in knowing how Cheryl and Ismail have maintained their optimism, hope, and love of life and one another throughout their 30-year journey with ALS. They also wanted to know more about how Cheryl manages Ismail’s care and takes care of herself, too. The group asked lots of questions about how Ismail communicates and ways the couple plans to ensure that Ismail is able to continue to communicate if there comes a time he is no longer able to blink his eye. The women were impressed with Ismail’s ability to write his chapters one eye blink at a time and speculated about how much time and patience it must have taken for him to write that way.
Caz gave Ismail a report of the event in a Facebook post: “Ismail Tsieprati: we talked of you all night so it was almost as if you were here. In your honor: A Greek-inspired cocktail (“Ouzotini” anyone?), hummus, flatbread, Greek bean soup, Greek salad, Greek banana cake, and of course sunflower seeds and kiwi. Note also the New Orleans paraphernalia and elephants!”
If you are interested in having Cheryl speak to your book club, support group, conference, or workshop, contact bpbooks@west.net or call 800-858-1058.
Discussion guides for support groups and book clubs are available for free download on the “Free Guides” page of this website.