Book cover--light blue background, blonde woman with nglasses

My Unexpected Life

My Unexpected Life: Finding Balance Beyond My Diagnosis is an award-winning, coming-of-age story about Jennifer Gasner’s diagnosis with Friedreich’s Ataxxia and meeting the challenges it brought through her sense of humor and determination.

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    Praise

    The story [Gasner] tells is a moving and revealing one.

    —Kirkus Reviews

    “A refreshing coming-of-age memoir exploring young love, college, and careers while navigating a progressing disability.”

    —Independent Book Review

    My Unexpected Life. . .invites readers to reflect on their actions and the imperative of cultivating a world that values and embraces the diversity of human experiences.”

    —Literary Titan

    “Rousing account of navigating life with Friedreich’s ataxia.”

    —BookLife

    My Unexpected Life: Finding Balance Beyond My Diagnosis” is an amazing tour de force!

    —Net Galley

    A white woman with dark blonde curly hair below her shoulders, wearing teal glasses and light blue shirt

    I’m an ‘80s girl.

    Diagnosed with a rare progressive disability called Friedreich’s Ataxia at 17, I challenge people to see disability as a natural thing we will all go through. Disability is not to be feared and leading a fulfilling life is possible. I speak frankly about navigating a changing body, yet infuse it with laughter. It is my hope that people will see disability as another aspect of diversity and create a more inclusive world.

    “I am not a snowflake. I am not a sweet, infantilizing symbol of fragility and life. I am a strong, fierce, flawed adult woman. I plan to remain that way, in life and in death.”

    —STELLA YOUNG

    Follow Jennifer on facebook or Instagram

    Blog

    Don’t give up hope

    The last week, I started thinking about the future. Do we know what is going to happen?  We speculate, preparing for the worst--hoping we will be pleasantly surprised when it’s “not that bad.” But what if we thought that in the big picture, this election had to happen...

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    Disability Pride, I have it, but what’s next?

    Today is the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with disabilities act (ADA). It's a monumental day for people with disabilities. My disability became official one month after the ADA passage. Naively, I thought the ADA would protect me from discrimination and...

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    Celebrating Loss

    I feel a bit cringy about all of the positive news regarding my memoir. Am I bragging? Showing off? Much like my post regarding authenticity, I want to acknowledge that there have been disappointments too along the way. Here are some examples: My Unexpected Life was...

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    More Praise

    “Reading Jen Gasner’s beautiful book will forever alter your ideas, positive and negative, about what it means to be ‘normal.’ With its twists, turns, crashes, and triumphs, My Unexpected Life will transform the ways in which you regard your own life and the lives of those around you.”

    —JACOB SLICHTER

    Drummer for Semisonic and author of So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star

    “Jennifer Gasner has courageously and beautifully taken us on a journey that few have experienced. This important book delves into the inner world of living with disabilities, and it will surprise, hurt, and teach you in ways you never expected. A powerful and unforgettable story (about an incredibly gifted and amazing young woman) that will change you in all the right ways.”

    —LAURA L. ENGEL

    Amazon Bestselling Author of You’ll Forget This Ever Happened: Secrets, Shame, and Adoption in the 1960s

    “With precise words that build vivid scenes, Gasner immerses the reader in her experience living with Friedreich’s ataxia (FA). She allows us into her mind as she faces the shock of the diagnosis, navigates relationships while living with a disability, and fears an uncertain future. My Unexpected Life: Finding Balance Beyond My Diagnosis is about how to build a healthy self-image and a rewarding life amidst hardship—something that everyone can relate to, disability or not.”
    —KYLE BRYANT

    Athlete and Spokesperson for the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA); author of Shifting Into High Gear: One Man’s Grave Diagnosis and the Epic Bike Ride That Taught Him What Matters

    “Jennifer Gasner’s My Unexpected Life: Finding Balance Beyond My Diagnosis is a powerful and extraordinary memoir of an incredible young woman, and her endeavor to recreate her self-confidence after years of denying a horrifying reality.”

    — Reader Views

    5-star review on Reader's Favorite

    “A refreshing coming-of-age memoir exploring young love, college, and careers while navigating a progressing disability.”

    —Independent Book Review

    “Jennifer completely captures the complex game of tug-of-war we find ourselves in with the ever-changing realities of a progressive rare disease. The emotional, mental, and physical challenges are constant, yet somehow balance is found at times. And this memoir emphasizes all that makes life beautiful yet complicated. Thank you, Jen, for sharing your journey with such detail and vulnerability.”

    —SEAN BAUMSTARK

    Co-host of Two Disabled Dudes podcast

    “Overall, My Unexpected Life is a testament to the human spirit’s capacity to overcome adversity and find balance and happiness in unexpected places, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone undergoing sudden medical change who seeks to find joy and peace.”

    —K.C. Finn

    Readers’ Favorite

    “The honesty is refreshing, and the college experience, as it turns out, is pretty universal! It’s nice to put a smile on a story, and I am grateful that Jennifer Gasner has given us both. Very highly recommended.” 

    —Asher Syed

    Readers’ Favorite

    “With a lot of 1990s nostalgia, Gasner’s writings alter the view of the general population on what it means to be ‘normal.’ As far as I am concerned, she has achieved all of it with me and opened my eyes to much, much more.” 

    — Jamie Michele

    Readers’ Favorite

    “The honesty is refreshing, and the college experience, as it turns out, is pretty universal! It’s nice to put a smile on a story, and I am grateful that Jennifer Gasner has given us both. Very highly recommended.” 

    — Asher Syed

    Readers’ Favorite

    “When you’ve grown up in a world that devalues disability, how do you cope with a diagnosis that says you will need a wheelchair? In My Unexpected Life, DJ Jenny G recalls what might be the soundtrack of her young adult life as she details the pitfalls and triumphs she faced as a young adult while looking for a glimpse of the good life she might live. Jennifer Gasner is honest, funny, and delightfully dramatic as she takes us back to the 1990s, her days of college partying, awkward sexual tension, and angsty music.”

    —SUZANNE STOLZ

    Ed.D. Disability Advocate

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