Fading Angel: A Chronicle of Love

Sande Donahue Author, Fading Angel Sande Donahue Biography Sande Donahue was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Some say "the middle of cheese country" but she prefers to refer to her birth state as the "middle of God's forest country", the North Woods always holding a special place in her heart. From there, her growing up years were spent primarily in the Northern Suburbs of Chicago where she first got her start in caregiving by working as a "Candy Striper" for one of the local hospitals. The Candy Stripers were a volunteer group of young girls who spent their time doing menial but yet vital jobs in hospitals such as delivering magazines to elder patients, running errands for the patients, and sometimes just spending an afternoon chatting and brushing an elder patient's hair.

After graduation, she married and moved to Port Washington, Long Island where she and her husband took over the management of a family restaurant because of illness. Her father-in-law had suffered a severe cardiac arrest that left him paralyzed over his entire body. Ms. Donahue was put in a position of caregiving when she rendered assistance to her mother-in-law in the full-time care of her father-in-law until his death. After selling the business and moving the family back to the Midwest, Ms. Donahue, again, was rendered caregiver for her mother-in-law who, by now, had begun showing signs of Alzheimer's.

Several years later, her entrepreneurial spirit motivated Sande to begin a computer consulting business working as liaison between clients and manufacturers as companies began to automate their offices. Her extracurricular activities included a two year position as President of the Chicago State Street Business and Professional Woman's Organization which included a city wide sponsored High Tech career conference with over 2,000 in attendance and a special guest appearance by Chicago luminary Oprah Winfrey.

Ms. Donahue has always had a penchant for the written word. One of her first writing jobs that allowed her to tap into her creative pen was as a script writer for the famous "Bozo's Circus" children's television show which ran on Superstation WGN nationwide.

Later, her career led her to Moore, North America, a leading supplier of customized imprinted paper, where she worked in the marketing department. She developed direct mail packages for large corporate clients. Sande left Moore to become a full-time caregiver to her mother.

Throughout her 16 year journey caring for her mother, she kept a journal to record the memorable moments that she always wanted to cherish and gives you inside information on how to realistically deal with the affliction after she and her Mother openly discussed the disease. She has since taken her journal and wrote her first book, Fading Angel: A Chronicle of Love, which opens a window into the world of this debilitating disease and provides help and resources for other families to survive, cope and learn from Sande's 16 year calling.