On the surface, Victoria Jackson is the American Dream personified: from a troubled childhood and unfinished high school education she overcame immeasurable odds to create a cosmetics empire valued at more than half a billion dollars. Married to Bill Guthy—self-made principal of infomercial marketing giant Guthy-Renker—Victoria’s most treasured role was mother to three beautiful, beloved children, Evan, Ali, and Jackson.

Suddenly, Victoria’s dream life is broken as she begins to battle a mother’s greatest fear. In 2008, her daughter, Ali, began experiencing unusual symptoms of blurred vision and an ache in her eye. Her test results led to the diagnosis of a disease so rare, the chance that she had it was only 2%. Neuromyeltis Optica (NMO) is a little understood, incurable, and often fatal autoimmune disease that can cause blindness, paralysis, and life-threatening seizures, and afflicts as few as 20,000 people in the world. At the age of 14, Ali was given a terrifying prognosis of between four to six years to live.

Saving Each Other begins just as Victoria and Bill learn of Ali’s disease, starting them on a powerful journey to save Ali, their only daughter, including bringing together a team of more than fifty of the world’s leading experts in autoimmune and NMO-related diseases to create the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation.


MY REVIEW
This story had me in tears. Saving Each Other is about a mother and daughter facing an illness that the daughter, Ali is very touching and I felt for this family every step of the way. This was a book that I couldn't put down, a page turner for sure. I can't imagine going through what they've overcome, but am so glad they shared their story with the world. This book is definitely worth reading and will be another one on my list that I'll be telling my friends and family about. I know a couple of women who have had to deal with illness with their child in some way and I know that if they were given the chance to read this book they can see that they're not alone, that there are others out there going through something similar. The story alone makes this a great read, but what I also loved about this book is that you got two sides to the story, not only were we reading what Ali was going through, but we also got a chance to read what Victoria went through and this is what makes this book stands out. I was also impressed to find out that 100% of the proceeds of this book is donated to the foundation Victoria started called, Guthy Jackson Charitable Foundation