Meeting the author, the protagonist, and the survivor
"I spent five years of my life being treated for cancer, but since then I've
spent fifteen years being treated for nothing other than looking different from
everyone else. It was the pain from that, from feeling ugly, that I always
viewed as the great tragedy of my life. The fact that I had cancer seemed minor
in comparison." -Lucinda Grealy
Lucinda Margaret Grealy, born June 3rd, 1963 in Dublin Ireland. By 1967, her family had relocated to Spring Valley New York. By 1972 Lucy had been diagnosed with a rare, fatal form of cancer known as Ewing's Sarcoma. Ewing's presents the documented survival rate of 5%. Rigorous treatment called for the partial removal of Lucinda's jaw bone and followed by many facial reconstructive operations. Upon return to her young life, Lucy experienced cruelty through the taunting of classmates and peers. 'Autobiography of a face', written and inspired by her own account, Lucy Grealy portrays the horror in not only being prisoner to one's own disease, but tirelessly believing that her appearance was her true downfall. Being 'ugly' was Lucy's dominant sickness, and she had only felt rid of this burden/illness after seeking refuge in her own words. Lucinda Grealy began her studies at Sarah Lawrence College during 1981 and received the encouragement, praise and confidence to pursue her natural talent for poetry.
The year 1985 brought about the acceptance into the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the illustration of Lucinda's roommate at the time, Ann Patchett, and their enduring friendship. Ann's 2004 memoir (following the death of Lucinda Grealy in 2002), Truth and Beauty: A friendship, revolves around these two writer' relationship. Surprisingly, Lucinda's sister, Suellen Grealy, publicly opposed her sister's depiction in Ann's novel claiming that Ms. Patchett and her publisher stripped the Grealy family of their right to grieve for Lucinda's loss, privately.
Following her time spent in Iowa, Lucy's endeavored in a teaching position at Bennington College. Ms. Grealy taught writing and had published a collection of essays entitled 'As seen on television: Provocations' by the early 2000s.
" In an essay called “My God,” about the petty comforts as well as the
transcendence offered by religion, she confesses to being at one time “jealous
of a woman who had cervical cancer; I thought she got to have all the ‘benefits’
of a hard experience but didn’t have to suffer any permanent visible scars.” -Laura Green
With this wave of success, Lucinda endured the last of the torturous reconstructive surgeries that she had been continuously experiencing since childhood; Only to find herself in the constraints of another 'illness'. The addiction of Grealy's prescribed pain medication inevitably resulted in her heroin over-dose at the age of thirty-nine on December 18th, 2002 in New York City.
spent fifteen years being treated for nothing other than looking different from
everyone else. It was the pain from that, from feeling ugly, that I always
viewed as the great tragedy of my life. The fact that I had cancer seemed minor
in comparison." -Lucinda Grealy
Lucinda Margaret Grealy, born June 3rd, 1963 in Dublin Ireland. By 1967, her family had relocated to Spring Valley New York. By 1972 Lucy had been diagnosed with a rare, fatal form of cancer known as Ewing's Sarcoma. Ewing's presents the documented survival rate of 5%. Rigorous treatment called for the partial removal of Lucinda's jaw bone and followed by many facial reconstructive operations. Upon return to her young life, Lucy experienced cruelty through the taunting of classmates and peers. 'Autobiography of a face', written and inspired by her own account, Lucy Grealy portrays the horror in not only being prisoner to one's own disease, but tirelessly believing that her appearance was her true downfall. Being 'ugly' was Lucy's dominant sickness, and she had only felt rid of this burden/illness after seeking refuge in her own words. Lucinda Grealy began her studies at Sarah Lawrence College during 1981 and received the encouragement, praise and confidence to pursue her natural talent for poetry.
The year 1985 brought about the acceptance into the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the illustration of Lucinda's roommate at the time, Ann Patchett, and their enduring friendship. Ann's 2004 memoir (following the death of Lucinda Grealy in 2002), Truth and Beauty: A friendship, revolves around these two writer' relationship. Surprisingly, Lucinda's sister, Suellen Grealy, publicly opposed her sister's depiction in Ann's novel claiming that Ms. Patchett and her publisher stripped the Grealy family of their right to grieve for Lucinda's loss, privately.
Following her time spent in Iowa, Lucy's endeavored in a teaching position at Bennington College. Ms. Grealy taught writing and had published a collection of essays entitled 'As seen on television: Provocations' by the early 2000s.
" In an essay called “My God,” about the petty comforts as well as the
transcendence offered by religion, she confesses to being at one time “jealous
of a woman who had cervical cancer; I thought she got to have all the ‘benefits’
of a hard experience but didn’t have to suffer any permanent visible scars.” -Laura Green
With this wave of success, Lucinda endured the last of the torturous reconstructive surgeries that she had been continuously experiencing since childhood; Only to find herself in the constraints of another 'illness'. The addiction of Grealy's prescribed pain medication inevitably resulted in her heroin over-dose at the age of thirty-nine on December 18th, 2002 in New York City.