Shades of Grief: Echoes of Hope from the Darkness

By: Frances Dougherty Kendall, M.D.

Shades of Grief chronicles Frances Dougherty Kendall, M.D.'s walk through the complexities of death and dying and loss, grief, and hope. This personal journey begins with the loss of a beloved patient in Boston, the death of parents, her own cancer, and ends with recovery and hope. The various pieces are accompanied by her husband, Michael Kendall's original photography, each photo capturing a component of the emotion of a given work to enhance the depth of feeling experienced.

The author was driven by her experience to provide a modicum of comfort, peace and joy through her words to many struggling with the most human of all experiences - grief. A fellow physician, Dr. Emma Neish, said of the manuscript, "It is so raw and honest and it beautifully captures the human experience of grief. I think a lot of people will relate to these words and I think they will be healing for many souls."

About the Author

Frances Dougherty Kendall, M.D. is often called upon to be the messenger, witness, or participant in life's most challenging events and uses this unique exposure to the rawest of human emotions as the inspiration for her writings.

She is a Harvard trained Board certified Clinical Biochemical Geneticist with a 25+ year career specialized in rare and often life-limiting genetic disorders.

As one of the first women in her field, she piloted the first Mitochondrial Disorders Program in the US, created one of the first private laboratories focused on metabolic and mitochondrial disorders, and offered telemedicine to underserved rare disease communities around the world before such practice was commonplace. Her current consulting firm, a unique, innovative group, VMP Genetics, brings together Metabolic leaders to provide direct patient care consultation, physician support to understaffed programs, and biochemical genetics education through a host of platforms.