About the Author/Artist

I am currently disabled with Lewy Body dementia. It is a brain disease, like Alzheimers, although in the case of Lewy Body Dementia, the memory is not being destroyed but the brain cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. The neurons, which process thought and access memory shut down, go dormant, and then die; sort of like a wiring harness in which the wires start breaking and the relays quit working. Much of the brain's messages to coordinate with other centers of the body become distorted and impaired. There is no cure for this disease or treatment for it, other than to ease the outward syptoms of the disease.

I have drawn and painted since I was a child, and in school I loved to write stories. As the disease progressed my artistic abilities seemed unaffected by the dementia. In fact, I got better at drawing and painting, even as I lost the ability to write, do math and speak fluently. In 2006, I was almost completely non-verbal. Then, in 2008, I was prescribed the drug Aricept, which brought back most of my vocabulary and speaking ability. I could not write anything more than simple summaries, however.

In 2013, I started a web comic called "The Year Everything Changed." It's a serial-type story, sort of like Alice-through-the-looking-glass and is continuing to be published three days a week. I thought that I could write simple dialogue and the artwork would carry the story. The comic became more complex and then last year I started trying to write again.

Missing Without A Trace: A Kelly Mitchell Mystery was the result and now I am attempting to write a sequel. I don't know how long my ability to write at this level will last, but I hope it will continue long enough to finish this second story.