The Strength Behind The Smile
by Carla Thompson

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Have you ever received a diagnosis that hit you like a punch in the gut, folding you over and totally derailing your life? What about a prognosis that shortens that life and sets out to redefine its potential quality and worth? The Strength Behind the Smile is a thought-provoking and inspiring biographical account of a single lifetime riddled with exactly those sorts of unwelcome derailments, from childhood illnesses to kidney failure, years of dialysis, multiple transplants, multiple cancers, life-threatening complications, and so much more. And yet its author has never lost her smile. In fact, it has stood as a cornerstone in her fight not only to survive but to thrive … a solid foundation upon which she’s built a lifetime full of laughter in spite of the tears, positivity in spite of medically justified pessimism and bitterness, and the kind of love that lifts people up when they can’t find the strength to lift themselves. Life isn’t always fair, and buckling under the weight of that fact is rarely a choice. It’s just normal human frailty. But what we can choose is whether or not to let it continue crushing us. No matter the pain or illness, no matter the burden, with positivity— consciously chosen—we can find the strength and courage to keep living every day to its fullest … with a smile.

https://www.carlathompson.ca/

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Author Carla Thompson has spent her life pushing through serious and chronic illness with positivity, determination, and a passion for helping others. As a pharmacy technician with NL Health Services for the past 17 years, she has used her lived experience to both educate healthcare professionals and support patients. She has also been a past board member and active volunteer with the Kidney Foundation of Newfoundland for more than twenty years, working as a peer support worker and advocate. On good days, in her free time, Carla enjoys travel, hunting, exercise, and her simple cabin life in Botwood, Newfoundland, where she lives with her incredibly loving and supportive husband, Dion, whose been right there at her side through it all.

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Contributors

Author

Carla Thompson