Rusty’s Story – The true story of one young woman’s nightmare battle with epilepsy – wrongly diagnosed.
Rusty’s Story is Carol Gino’s account of the extraordinary life of the woman she undertook to help – the woman who ended up teaching her an invaluable lesson about the will to live, the strength of hope…
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..
