In just five days, Ignite Your Soul: A Romance Charity Anthology is releasing! Proceeds from the sales of this anthology will be going to support the SickKids Foundation, a cause near and dear to my heart, as I spent a lot of time at SickKids when I was a child.
I was born with Multiple Hereditary Exostoses, also known as Hereditary Multiple Osteochondromas. This condition causes benign bone tumours to grow outward from the metaphyses of long bones. It can be very painful, especially when the benign bone tumours interfere with nerves, muscles, veins, ligaments and tendons. It can also affect bone growth when the benign tumours grow on or near regular growth plates.
The only form of treatment is surgery to remove the exostoses causing pain or interfering with bone growth. As a child, I had a lot of surgeries to remove exostoses as SickKids Hospital in Toronto.
When I heard that our charity this year was the SickKids Foundation, I was so excited for the ability to help give back to the place I spent a lot of my formative years in. I decided to write a story based on the surgery I briefly mentioned a character in Riverside Reverie having.
That character, Rhiannon, has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome; a rare inherited condition that affects connective tissues such as skin, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, internal organs, and bones. As a child, she had a major surgery to straighten her spine and put in rods. I decided to write my short story for the anthology about that surgery, as told from the point of view of her mother and the handsome anesthesiologist that puts Rhiannon under for her surgery. I called it 𝙂𝙊𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍.
Of course, there's one little scene in 𝙂𝙊𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍 that's a subtle nod to memories I had of one of my own surgeries at SickKids. Rhiannon's room overlooks the atrium, with a perfect view of the pig wearing a tutu that danced on a wire above the cow in a straw hat and I think a hippo wearing suspenders.
During one of my surgeries, I had a room facing the atrium, and the pig in a tutu seriously messed with me post-op. Perhaps it was the morphine induced dreams, but I was convinced it was trying to come into my room through the window. My mom had to close the blinds the whole time, because any time they were open and I saw that pig in a tutu, I'd start freaking out.
I'd been going to the hospital for years before that, and I'd always loved the pig in a tutu. But that's post-op morphine dreams for you, they're unexplainably weird!
Since then, they've redone the atrium and the pig, cow, and hippo on a wire were removed, but when I think about my time at SickKids, I always think about the pig in a tutu and that hilarious memory.
You can read my short story, 𝙂𝙊𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍, along with 16 other amazing shorts from other incredible authors in Ignite Your Soul: A Romance Charity Anthology. It's available for a limited time in Kindle Unlimited and in paperback. Remember, proceeds from the sales of this book will be going to support the SickKids Foundation, so if you'd like to support this incredible charity, be sure to grab your copy!
𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐛:
𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳.
𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐏𝐫𝐞-𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫:
𝐄𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐏𝐫𝐞-𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D28T49HS
Blurb for 𝙂𝙊𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍:
Suzanne Barr is unsurprised that her ex declined to show up at the hospital while their 12-year-old daughter undergoes spinal fusion surgery. It’s a living nightmare to watch her child face such a painful experience, but the outcome should improve Rhiannon’s life drastically. Suzanne is using every bit of strength she has to hold herself together during the pre-op meeting. She’s ready for anything—except for her visceral reaction to the sinfully hot anesthesiologist. Are muscles supposed to be that obvious in a lab coat?
Their connection is instantaneous. But Suzanne doesn’t have time to fan those flames. Right?
Dr. Derek Watkins is entirely professional at all times, but a few serendipitous run-ins with Suzanne in the weeks after her daughter’s surgery leaves Suzanne very much on his mind. He knows the last thing she needs right now is some guy she just met to hit on her, but neither one can seem to resist the pull of their connection…
** Please note: this particular story of mine is NOT as spicy or steamy as my usual stories. For one, it's a short story, and for two...the setting and circumstance of Suzanne and Derek's meeting didn't allow for such spice, so please don't go into it hoping for some crazy Grey's Anatomy style supply closet shenanigans. Either way, I'm so excited for you to read this sweet story and I thank you for the support!
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