2 October 2019

A Puff of Smoke

Jo McPherson disease, event, patient book launch, event, exhibition, patient, rare disease, workshop

Sarah Lippett spent eleven years suffering with symptoms from an unknown condition, until she was diagnosed with the rare disease, Moyamoya, at the age of 17. This November she is launching her beautiful graphic memoir, A Puff of Smoke, which tells her story using the power of the sequential narrative.

It took eleven years, my childhood, my teenage years, three hospitals, numerous consultants and a hell of a lot of MRI’s, EEG’s, procedures, tests, examinations, medications and side effects before I was diagnosed with Moyamoya (a rare neurological disease that affects one in one million people in the UK) at the age of seventeen.
Sarah Lippett

Come Along to the Book Launch

During the month of November an exhibition will be held at The Centre For Better Health that will explore the wider themes of Sarah’s memoir. Many of these themes represent the reality of the diagnostic odyssey that patients with rare diseases face such as isolation and deteriorating mental health. You can join Sarah and M4RD at the book launch on 1st November.

Create Your Own Sequential Narrative

In addition to the exhibition Sarah is holding a workshop on 22nd November during which she will talk through the process of revisiting her past and piecing it back together as a graphic memoir. The workshop will start with a talk from Sarah and then participants will be invited to create sequential narratives based on their own lived experiences.

A Puff of Smoke is the story of my diagnosis in graphic novel form, it explores what it is like to grow up with an unknown chronic illness, the fragility of the human body, the isolation, the sibling jealousy, school life, the boyfriends who do and don’t understand, friendships, family, frustration, the fun in light of the anxiety, the patient experience. It’s for anyone that’s ever felt lost, lonely, isolated or lived with chronic illness
Sarah Lippett