News
Massachusetts newspaper tells the love story of Alpha Sally Everett and her new book
The Republican, Springfield, MA
LONGMEADOW, Massachusetts – In 1993, Sally Everett was 50, a single mother, living in Nyack, NY, and working as regional director of the Medicaid fraud unit in the attorney general’s office, when a bout of pneumonia led to a devastating diagnosis.
Doctors told her she had Alpha-1 COPD, a genetic pulmonary disease. They gave her 10 years, at best, to live.
Nineteen years later, and now living in Glenmeadow with her husband, Dr. Gordon L. Snider, Everett has written a memoir, An Alpha-1 COPD Love Story, published by Small Batch Books. It is about her journey from health to illness, the love she encountered along the way, and her fight to raise money and awareness to battle this deadly disease.
Sally Everett at home in Longmeadow, MA
Everett is working to change that, but she didn’t start out embracing her illness or championing its cause. “After my diagnosis, I gave myself one week to feel sorry for myself, and then I just got on with life,” she said – with one exception. “I threw caution to the wind. I gave myself permission to be extravagant for one whole year.”
But when the year ended, it was time to confront her condition. She joined a church and its support group for those with challenging illnesses.
“It enabled me to open up,” she said.
She was also ready to meet and embrace others with Alpha-1 COPD and in 1994 joined their association.
