She Danced with Lightning: My Daughter’s Struggle with Epilepsy and Her Boundless Will to Live

Part family memoir, part medical mystery involving severe epilepsy, She Danced with Lightning follows one girl’s battle to persevere as a competitive dancer, culminating in a terrifying decline, a courageous performance, and an eleventh hour, life-saving brain surgery.

Eleven-year-old Anna has lived all her life with severe epilepsy. Despite the ravage of thousands of violent seizures and heavy medications, she has thrived at school, athletics, and her greatest passion—dance. As she approaches her twelfth birthday, Anna’s condition takes a dire turn. Her health declines quickly and a new diagnosis is revealed, leaving the family only one excruciating choice. A parent’s memoir about the medical mysteries of epilepsy and the personal suffering of raising a child with a deadly health condition, She Danced with Lightning is told from the perspective of Anna’s dream-chasing father, who comes to learn from her a strength and courage he never imagined possible.

“An earnest and personal perspective on one family’s medical struggles…Palmieri writes well, using vivid sensory descriptors to immerse readers…He also logically weaves in his own personal story into the narrative…he honestly tells of trying to find himself while also being a caring father.” – Kirkus Reviews