“It happened in a single moment. Their lives were changed. Their souls shaken. And then, when they were most vulnerable, their hearts opened to the miraculous….”

- SIDS -

Their hour of darkness… became a journey into the Light.

A Family’s True Story of Loss and Renewal
by Carol Gino bestselling author of “The Nurse’s Story.”

They were a three generation Italian American family steeped in traditional values. Carol Gino’s old world father was a stern disciplinarian who loved opera and polkas; her mother a shy, tradition-bound housewife, while Carol herself had made a spiritual journey away from her Catholic roots. But nothing in the Gino family’s past could ever have prepared them for the tragedy that would change all their lives forever.
For Carol it began with a phone call in the middle of the night; a call that brought unbearable news. Her grandchild, her daughter’s infant son, had died in his own crib of SIDS. Within hours, Carol was on a plane from California, returning home to the family who needed her more than ever.

After the initial shock, the members of Carol’s family each coped with the death in their own way. Carol’s father in stony silence, Teri’s husband with silent Gregorytears, Carol’s bereaved daughter, Teri, in rages against God. The baby’s sister, Jessie, with the innocence of a child. Then, as the family grappled with the loss, the inexplicable heartbreak of SIDS, and the need to go on with their lives, a new voice began to speak among them. It was a voice that offered answers and more questions, comfort and more challenges. It was the voice of an angel.

Read more about Then an Angel Came here..

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click here to read chapter 1

Rusty used to wonder if she would make it through the day, seeing danger in everyday living. Rusty has epilepsy.
She was twenty when Carol Gino met her and learned of her past ordeals: the stigma of mental illness, the drugs that took away her self-control, the treatments that only worsened her symptoms.

Carol and Rusty set out to prove that illness can be overcome, and that there is no substitute for love and care.

Editorial Reviews From School Library Journal

The true story of one young woman’s nightmare battle with epilepsy, told by the registered nurse with whom she lived. Gino first meets Barbara Russell (Rusty) when Rusty is 19 and they are both working at a nursing home. Four years earlier, Rusty was diagnosed as having severe epilepsy. Even with medication, the blackouts and seizures continued. After one violent seizure, she attempted suicide and was placed in a mental hospital, with brutal guards, violent patients, and lack of adequate care. Only Rusty’s strength and belief in herself helped her survive. When her attacks resumed, she left Gino’s house, but Gino continued to try to find the right physician and treatment. An epilogue in 1985 shows that Rusty made it through college and has become an independent, accepted member of society. Rusty’s story covers approximately 15 years, but the feeling is one of an immediate event. Gino’s involvement, intensity, and anger at the medical establishment moves readers into an empathy for Rusty and horror at the ignorance of some physicians and the world at large. Teens who enjoy the books of Torey Hayden, Eleanor Craig, or Mary MacCracken will also like this one. -Diana Hirsch, PGCMLS, MdFrom Library Journal
While many advancements have been made in understanding and treating epilepsy, the disease is still surrounded by an aura of dread. Rusty was a teenager when she was stricken with epilepsy. Misdiagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, for years she suffered more from inappropriate medical treatment than from her condition. The reader is mesmerized as Gino (author of The Nurse’s Story) passionately relates Rusty’s plight. Despite repeated incarcerations in a frightful state mental institution and the toxic effects of drugs, she never lost her sense of humanity or her strong desire to help others. Gino’s deep distrust of the medical establishment, her fervent attachment to nursing, and her conviction that the patient knows best are themes that are interwoven into the emotional story of Rusty’s fight for a normal life.  -Carol R. Glatt, Helene Fuld Medical Center Lib., Trenton, N.J.

Read more about Rusty’s Story here..

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Click here to read chapter 1

“Few nurses have experienced the range of cases this dedicated woman describes; cancer, the burn unit, emergency ward, birth, brain damage. And she has taken extraordinary measures to help people – given medication against doctors orders, withheld medication when she felt a person was supposed to die, eased the sexual tension of a burn victim who’d lost his arms. The writer is a vigorous, optimistic caring woman. And she exudes frankness.” – Los Angeles Times

With uncompromising honesty, Carol Gino strips the TV image to reveal the gritty truths of a nurse’s life, from it’s early, optimistic beginnings to the harsh realities – and incalculable rewards – that sustain her even in the face of a nurse’s greatest professional hazard: burnout.

How can she help the family of a terminally ill patient when the doctor can do nothing more? What can she do for a ten-year-old burn victim for whom most of consciousness is pain? How does she convince the doctor of her intuition that the patient cannot survive major surgery at a given time? And how can she leave all this behind at the end of her shift?

Read more about The Nurses Story here…

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Her first book, “The Nurse’s Story” published by Simon and Schuster,  sold to nine foreign countries besides the US.  It is still in print in Japan.  It was a feature of  the Book of the Month Club and Nurses Book Club and was on PW’s list for six weeks.  It was #2 on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list.  Carol did two cross country tours for The Nurse’s Story:  which included TV, radio and print media.

She has appeared on several TV and radio shows including; “The Today Show”,  “Charlie Rose”,  “Houston Live”,  “Regis and Kathy Lee”,  “AM Los Angeles” , “AM San Francisco” etc.  The Nurse’s Story was serialized in the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post etc.  People Magazine did a feature article on her, and she has been highlighted in many other local and national papers.

She has written articles for New York Magazine (aka Teri Daniels), American Journal of Nursing, and other Nursing Mags.  Three of her articles were published in Nursing 97 (the largest nursing journal – circulation of over 350,000.) Three of her stories and several editorials also appeared in Nursing ‘98.

Ms. Gino’s second book “Rusty’s Story” sold 350,000 copies and again, Carol did a 15 city media tour.  That book received the Epilepsy Association’s National Book Award and was on the New York Times bestseller list for 5 weeks.  She also received the Service Award from the Epilepsy Association of Ohio and spoke to many epilepsy associations across the country. Ciba Geigy made her their spokesperson for the anticonvulsant drug, Tegretol.  And another media tour followed.

In 1997 Kensington published Carol Gino’s book about the SIDS death of her grandson: “Then An Angel Came…”  Both of her previous books, “The Nurse’s Story” and “Rusty’s Story” have been reprinted.

Ms. Gino is also very active on the internet and maintains a website called “The Hopeful Healer” at http://hopefulhealer.com/.  She acted as a Nursing consultant in Healing Imagery and meditation for healing for Total Care Home Health Care agency.  Her Masters in Transpersonal Studies focused on new modalities for healing, changes in consciousness and cross cultural healing.

“The Nurse’s Story” screenplay called GWYN adapted from Ms Gino’s book was completed by Mario Puzo in 1996.  It was submitted to the major motion picture studios for a feature film or major TV series.

Ms. Gino was a keynote speaker at the National SIDS Convention in Dallas Texas in 1997,  she was also a speaker at the Bereavement Convention in upstate New York, entitled “Helping Families Cope with Grief” in Tarrytown, NY.

The trade paperback edition of “Then An Angel Came” was released in 1998 by Kensington Books.

She began her own publishing house called Starwater Press Ltd. in 1987 to publish spiritual and angel books and tapes long before  they were in mainstream consciousness.  Since then she has also started aah-ha! Books  (Help for Hard Times – clear and simple) for her more mainstream titles.

She was the long time companion of author Mario Puzo and worked and played on Long Island, New York with her children and grandchildren.

After Mario Puzo’s death in 1999, she kept a promise she’d made and finished his book “The Family.”  That book was published by Harper Collins, Regan Books, in 2001. Carol did several articles and appeared on the Today show to talk about The Family which was also a best seller.

In 2005, Carol moved to the countryside outside of Austin, Texas where she now lives and writes both fiction and nonfiction books.

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