A Beautiful Spiral by Dr. Ashyanna Keli Rodriguez

In her first book, A Beautiful Spiral, Dr. Ashyanna Keli Rodriguez tells her extraordinary story of healing from nine brain tumors caused by the life-threatening disease, cerebral cysticercosis. For seven years, she struggled to survive the devastating physical and psychological effects of the worms growing in her brain due to a parasite she contracted while serving in a remote African village for the U.S. Peace Corps. These creatures were first her torture and then her teachers, and through this experience a healer was born. However, death called again when she was violently attacked in her home. Though she survived a brutal physical and sexual assault, she was left struggling to survive the living nightmare of post-traumatic stress disorder. Through this journey she learned how to connect to her unbreakable spirit, and the meaning of true forgiveness. Dr. Rodriguez’s A Beautiful Spiral traces the complex road of illness to recovery—twice—with courage and candor that spans human emotion as well as the globe, and shows the power of choosing life and love—again and again.