How Am I Not Dead Yet?
Some people collect souvenirs. Leigh Yeoland collects medical diagnoses, hospital appointments and reasons to ask one very important question: How am I not dead yet?
For most people, life comes with occasional unexpected challenges. For Leigh, it seems to have arrived with an entire medical department attached.
From childhood mishaps and misunderstood ADHD to chronic illness, autoimmune diseases, serious medical complications and countless hospital visits, Leigh's journey has been anything but ordinary.
Living with conditions including lupus, chronic pain and complex autoimmune disorders is exhausting enough. Add childhood struggles, sexual abuse, domestic violence, PTSD, grief and the constant battle to be heard by medical professionals, and you have a life that could easily have been defined by suffering.
But Leigh refuses to let that happen.
Armed with fierce determination, an extraordinary capacity for sarcasm and a sense of humour that frequently appears at the most inappropriate moments, she tells her story with refreshing honesty.
Along the way, there is heartbreak, uncertainty, miscarriage, the joy of welcoming her rainbow baby, Harrison, and the unwavering love and support of her husband, Liam.
There are frightening diagnoses, exhausting treatments, unexpected medical emergencies and moments when simply getting through the day feels like an impossible task.
And somehow, there is still laughter.
How Am I Not Dead Yet? is not another perfectly polished story about overcoming adversity and emerging completely healed. There are no miraculous cures, convenient answers or promises that everything eventually becomes easy.
Instead, this deeply personal memoir offers something far more meaningful: the truth about living with chronic illness, navigating trauma, learning to accept an unpredictable body and finding joy in the middle of absolute chaos.
Blending raw vulnerability with brilliantly dark British humour, Leigh reminds readers that resilience isn't always about being strong, positive or inspirational.
Sometimes it's about crying in a hospital car park, laughing at the absurdity of another medical disaster, leaning on the people who love you and deciding to try again tomorrow.
For anyone living with chronic illness, invisible disabilities, trauma or the feeling that life has thrown far too much their way, this book offers honesty, understanding and the comforting reminder that they are not alone.
Because sometimes the greatest achievement isn't overcoming everything life throws at you. It's still being here to tell the story.
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