Medical Memoir
Books by Nicole Tetreault
Nicole Tetreault, a neuroscientist, is working on a book about her mother, who lived with Parkinson’s for 18 years. In her memoir, she explores the connections between science, spirituality, research, the environment, faith, and motherhood.
Excerpt
“My mother’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) led me to neuroscience research and a doctorate degree from Caltech. On my graduation day, my mother was in the late stage of PD, wheelchair-bound and close to speechless. I was offered my dream job; to study the neuroprotective mechanism of PD. But I declined this academic position to spend the last months with my mother. She passed three months after I graduated. My story chronicles a deep existential crisis after the loss of my mother and my loss of faith in science. It carries the reader through the laboratory, library, hospitals, my own experience surviving cancer, being a young mother in UCLA’s Master’s program studying PD, finding ways to connect with my voiceless mother, and finding faith in nature and motherhood.”