In 2013, Michelle Stewart was diagnosed with terminal renal failure. In a poignant blog, she proceeded to recount her "32-year dress rehearsal for the fate I now face" that serves as the basis for her memoir, Shell: One Woman's Final Year After a Lifelong Struggle with Anorexia and Bulimia (LifeTree Media, 2015). Ironically, she had worked for seven years as director of communications for the B.C. Ministry of Health before unburdening herself of her secrets. She died at age 49 in 2014. Her partner Kirk Mason and her sister, Karen Flello, have since launched Michelle's Voice: The Society for Eating Disorder Awareness and Education in tandem with her account of her palliative journey. She entered hospice care at Saanich Peninsula Hospital on April 21, 2014 and did not write after that.

BOOKS:

Shell: One Woman's Lifelong Struggle with Anorexia and Bulimia (LifeTree Media, 2015) $17.99 978-1-928055136

[BCBW 2015]