This week I’m hosting Alison Stone with Critical Diagnosis and Cindy Yee Kong with The Eyes of the Lion (no giveaway). If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on your post with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (July 13th) evening.
Interview with the heroine from Alison Stone’s Critical Diagnosis:
1. Lily McAllister, tell me the most interesting thing about you. I studied medicine so I could find a cure for the disease that killed my mother and now afflicts my niece.
2. What do you do for fun? I don’t have a lot of time for recreation. When I can find time, I enjoy spending it with my sister and niece. I’m ashamed to admit, I haven’t made much time lately. Recently, I’ve also been volunteering at a free healthcare clinic. I work with a very nice doctor there, James O’Reilly. He’s in line to become the next CEO at the pharmaceutical company where I do my research. He seems much happier practicing medicine than running a corporation.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it? I avoid relationships because eventually talk turns to marriage and children. I can never have children because I carry the gene for this horrible disease.
4. What are you afraid of most in life? Losing my niece to the same disease that killed my mom. I am also afraid that if I have a child, that child will also become ill. It’s horrible living with that fear.
5. What do you want out of life? Peace of mind. I’m tired of worrying about everything. I have my faith, but sometimes I forget to rely on it. And most of all, I want to find a cure.
6. What is the most important thing to you? My family and my research. My research is so important because if I’m successful, I will save my niece’s life.
7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read? I read a lot of medical journals. No page turners, I’m afraid. However, I’m optimistic with all the genetic research that’s going on. There are many promising cures on the horizon.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I wish I had a balanced life. I want love and a family of my own. I want to do this without being afraid.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet? I don’t have a pet, but I do work with lab rats. That’s probably not what you meant when you asked the question, is it? I’m not home long enough each day to give a pet the proper care it needs.
10 If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why? I’d travel back to the day before my mother died. I would take the time to be in the moment and cherish our time together. I was a teenager when she died and like most teenagers, I was always in such a rush to do my own thing.