Anne-Marie Tucker struggled to find resources and information on how to deal with her father’s traumatic brain injury. She stuck by his side through his unfathomable pain and started a Brain Injury Support Group and an annual 5K event for Brain Injury Awareness.
After her father’s passing, Tony Meduri, she published her first collection of poems, “Time with You: A TBI Story”. She recently released THAT’S NOT MY CAT! a children’s story and colorbook duo about a grandfather who is plagued by dementia and no longer remembers his favorite pet, Blaze.
Anne-Marie is a wife, mother, friend, animal advocate, and executive director of a nonprofit to support traumatic brain injury survivors in Jacksonville, Florida.
THAT’S NOT MY CAT
A colorful picture book and companion coloring book that tell a story of a young grandson, his wheelchair-bound grandfather, and pet cat named Blaze. The family tries to learn how to handle Pop Pop’s forgetfulness, memory loss, and dementia and his brain injury. Blaze is a big, fluffy, orange kitty that Chase and his mother adopted from the animal shelter to help keep Pop Pop company. A children’s fiction, however, the story is based on the author’s real life experience caring for her father. Chase, the young grandson, cheerfully does his best to help Pop Pop remember that Blaze IS his cat.
TIME WITH YOU: A TBI STORY
Time with You: A TBI Story is a collection of poems written from the heart of an adult daughter facing her father’s memory loss, aggression, countless hospital stays, falls, and ultimate death after a traumatic brain injury. Each poem aids in the healing process for other caregivers to know they are not alone. The black and white Illustrations were concepts Anne-Marie wove in response to her poetry.
