GBS causes a creeping paralysis that begins in the extremities and spreads. When she experienced extreme weakness in all four limbs, they thought she might have Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome (GBS). And blamed her oddly-colored urine on dehydration. Attributed her altered mental status to psychological problems. They diagnosed her severe abdominal cramps as pancreatitis. All are triggers for porphyria, a condition that nearly killed Conley before two Methodist Rehabilitation Center researchers identified the mysterious disease.įor some 15 years, doctors mistook Conley’s porphyria symptoms for more common ailments. And don’t stress out or invite infections. Don’t take certain pain relievers, antibiotics or seizure medication. Don’t drink alcohol, smoke, take hormones, go on low-carb diets or fasts. Kalisa Conley of Vicksburg lives with a long list of don’ts. Conley is working to strengthen her legs and improve her balance after being paralyzed by the rare, genetic disease Porphyria. Her title Maya's Notebook made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2013.Cameron Huff, a physical therapist at Methodist Outpatient Therapy in Flowood, shows Kalisa Conley how to do a sit to stand maneuver while holding a weighted ball. She received the 1996 Harold Washington Literacy Award. In addition to writing books, Allende has worked as a TV interviewer, magazine writer, school administrator, and a secretary at a U.N. She delved into the erotic connections between food and love in Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses. In Paula, Allende wrote her memoirs in connection with her daughter's illness and death. The Infinite Plan was her first novel to take place in the United States. She then wrote Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, and The Stories of Eva Luna, all set in Latin America.

Her first novel, The House of the Spirits, has been translated into 27 languages, and was later made into a film. While living in Venezuela, Allende began writing her novels, many of them exploring the close family bonds between women. When he was overthrown in the coup of 1973, she fled Chile, moving to Caracas, Venezuela. Her uncle was Salvador Allende, the president of Chile. She married at the age of 19 and had two children, Paula and Nicolas. When her parents separated, young Isabel moved with her mother to Chile, where she spent the rest of her childhood. Isabel Allende was born in 1942 in Lima, Peru, the daughter of a Chilean diplomat.

Paula allende