Praise for Emalia

“As a gastroenterologist, I am grateful to Brooke Brown for sharing a blow-by-blow account of her daughter's diagnosis and eventual demise from colon cancer at a young age. This book gives a very detailed and believable account of the patient's journey. Above all, however, the book excels in depicting a mother's fears, hopes, disappointments and grief as she watches her beloved child grappling with illness and death despite her own and others' heroic efforts. Brooke is unsparingly honest with herself and as she moves closer to Emalia's death and beyond, we see her letting go of her scientific moorings (she has a Ph.D.) and beginning a profound spiritual journey of her own. Highly recommend to anyone who has taken care of or is taking care of a loved one with a terminal illness and to bereft parents in general.”

—Elizabeth E. Mannick, MD, gastroenterologist

“I'm dealing with metastatic cancer in my immediate family, and Dr. Brown's book was both empathic and concretely helpful. I now better understand the long arc involved in supporting a cancer patient and encouraged me to find various avenues of support as a caregiver. I'm grateful for the clarity, intelligence, and heart with which it was written.”

—Kay Cash-Smith

“Brooke Brown's daughter, Emalia, a vibrant, athletic mother of a young son, died in 2014 of an aggressive colorectal cancer. Brooke's remarkable story, about the pain of losing a child, about the ways grief changes a person, about her bereavement journey and eventual re-communion with Emalia, gripped me early on and kept me riveted until the powerful conclusion. Brown never backs away from, or wavers, when speaking her truth about her experiences in the quantum field where love transcends physical laws (as we know them). I am a mother and a widow, and I cried tears of joy and hope (and, yes, sadness) while reading Emalia: A Mother-Daughter Journey from Here to Beyond. I recommend it very highly for anyone who's experienced the loss of a loved one, or has ever wondered what happens ‘next.’”

—Marnie Masuda, founder and executive director of The Creative Core

“Emalia is a heart-wrenching and inspirational memoir about the worst thing that can happen to a parent: the death of her child. Emalia, the author’s only daughter – bright, beautiful, loving, and much loved – had enjoyed glowing good health her whole life, in part because of her positive attitude and her dedication to fitness. She was happily married with an 18-month-old baby when she was diagnosed with a cancer that proved to be shockingly virulent, and which would kill her a year and a half later. Over that time mother and daughter rode a “horrendous roller coaster” of hope and crushing disappointment as they learned to face and accept the unthinkable. Brown’s memoir, full of the wisdom derived from her Buddhist practices and her work as a psychotherapist, stresses what she learned about the importance of cultivating gratitude for even the smallest moments, while at the same time recognizing the need to acknowledge feelings of dread and despair – without feeding them. The memoir also includes the time following Emalia’s death – the day-to-day reality of grief and the necessity of fully grieving – and it examines Brown’s growing conviction that love and Emalia live on. A later section of the book presents some helpful practices for working with grief.

Never preachy or dogmatic, Brooke Brown tells her story not to impress an audience but in the way of one friend talking to another. I highly recommend this book for anybody dealing with loss in any way – which includes just about everyone.”

—Barbara McHugh, Ph.D., author of Bride of the Buddha

“I am so proud of and excited for my friend Brooke Brown and the launch of her book, Emalia. It’s both a tribute to her daughter and a powerful story of courage, perseverance and unconditional love. She beautifully captures an unbreakable bond between a mother and daughter, a relentless battle with cancer, and the way the universe can speak to us to let us know that we can never truly be separated from our love ones departed.

I recommend this book to everyone and anyone. You will fall in love with Emalia as I did, and root for her with every turn of the page. Emalia will make you want to live your life more fully and challenge yourself to be the best person you can possibly be.

For those of you who have cared for or are caring for loved ones with cancer, it’s an authentic, thoughtful and straightforward testimony to the strength and reserves required. For anyone who has lost a child, you will feel Brooke as your companion in this journey.

Brooke combines her personal experience with her professional knowledge and experience as a psychologist to offer those who are traveling this path [with] a roadmap of the tools she employed to be the supportive, proactive and fully present person she was able to be. Her strength is inspiring and Emalia will live in your heart forever.”

— Eliza Sears

“Emalia is a rare instance of a book written by a trained psychologist who is catapulted into the abyss of dealing with her own daughter’s cancer diagnosis, treatment, and ultimate death.  With clinical, unsparing detail, she chronicles the odyssey of her and Emalia’s journey as they confronted each moment of fear, doubt and uncertainty with courage, endurance and hope.  The book offers a  highly professional and profound message of support, empathy, and compassion for those on such a journey from the darkness of despair into the light.” 

—Lynn Foster

“While death ends the physical relationship we have with our loved ones, the emotional and spiritual bonds continue. This is a story of loss and hope, tears and triumph, shared with inspiration and honesty. I highly recommend you join in on their journey!”

—Donna Schuurman, Ed.D, FT, Dougy Center, Portland, OR

“This is a profoundly moving account of a daughter's illness and her mother's grief and healing journey. Very well written, it shares with honesty and humility, the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of this unthinkable life experience.. The insights and the wisdom that Brooke Brown imparts is of great benefit. Love and compassion shines throughout this book, and it imparts many lessons about how dark days can lead to an ever expanding person journey.”

—Barbara P. Mathews

“I loved this book. I felt like I was sitting alongside Brooke, Emalia, and her family throughout their journey. As I have worked with cancer patients teaching meditation for the last seven years, I had no idea what that experience truly entailed. Brooke's detailed account provided a window into that difficult and complex journey of navigating treatments and the challenges faced.

Emalia's persevering and gracious spirit shined throughout. I felt like I got to know this remarkable young woman and the love that she shared with her family, particularly her young son. She made the best of each hardship and her genuine gratitude for everyone helping her left me inspired.

Through the lens of a mother and a therapist, Brooke provides the reader with hope that one can endure the greatest loss of all--the loss of a child. I loved that she shared her and others' experiences of receiving signs from Emalia after her physical death. This confirmation demonstrates how life is eternal. Although our loved ones are not here in physical form, they are still very much with us.

Her helpful recommendations provide readers with practical tools to navigate such a loss. Instead of retreating into a hole, Brooke chose to use her experience and expertise to create an organization honoring Emalia, Nā Keiki O Emalia, that supports grieving children, teens, and their families.

I finished the book feeling grateful, inspired, and in awe of the difference that one can make in the face of such loss.”

—Carla Jalbert, intuitive healer, medium, and intuitive

“This book does not pull punches in describing the journey of treacherous grief a mother experiences when losing a beloved child. AND this journey is filled with evidence of a profound guidance which is available if we but pause and listen. Companions of grace, spirit, humor and great love offer this author and the reader comfort, hope and faith along the way.

A glorious pearl is birthed from the sorrow of loss. Thanks to Brown, healing groups for the most vulnerable among us has come to fruition as therapy groups now exist for children who have lost parents. Brown skillfully offers specific practices which promote healing throughout the process of grief. As a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and psychotherapist I highly recommend this book to those suffering the loss of a loved one.”

—Sandy Roos, MFT

“Emalia is a beautifully written memoir of a mother and daughter as they confront, battle, and ultimately—gracefully—accept the inevitable. Both realist and optimist, the author dips into her deepest anguish, while sharing the spiritual enlightenment she and Emalia experienced along the way. She offers comfort along with practical tools and resources for anyone grieving the loss of a loved one.

Eminently readable, and with many photos, you will open your heart to this grieving mother and thankfully accept the gifts she offers.”

—Madge Walls, author of The Visiting Girl

“A powerfully, passionate mother’s story, Brooke Brown describes the devastating loss of her daughter to cancer while her five-year-old grandson tries to navigate a world without his mother. As painful and gut-wrenching as her daughter’s death is, Brooke manages a masterful presentation of both her daughter’s and grandson’s journey, as well as her own, to find a way to heal.”

—Joyce Black Sears, Ph.D.

“This is an amazing and deeply moving account of a mother’s dealing with the impossible pain of losing her child to cancer, and her heartfelt response to extend help to others that came in the aftermath of that loss.

This book is about meeting the fragility and precariousness of life with great courage and love. It illustrates how those qualities can help us navigate an impossibly painful experience in a way that expands our capacity to love and brings us the grace to continue living with compassion and presence.

It also beautifully conveys how, when we have shared a life with someone, our beings are forever deeply connected even in the face of apparent separation.”

—Win Bottum-Morgan, Ph.D.

“Brooke & Emalia have the extraordinary mother-daughter relationship of a lifetime & across the veil. Their story is heartbreaking and profoundly inspiring… filled with grace & our shared humanity around hope & the deep pain of loss. Reading their journey cracked my heart open & changed me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. It’s a story of courage, love, spiritual awakening and deep gratitude for the magical gift of life, however long we get to be here! Emalia was an extraordinary woman who and lived a beautiful ordinary life that was far too short.”

—Diana Thomas

“It has long been clear to me that there are people in the world possessed of great wisdom and commanding strength of heart. What has been less clear is how those people develop such qualities. In this intimate, detailed account of her adult daughter's living and dying process, Brooke Brown shows us precisely what it takes to forge such wise, compassionate presence. Be prepared to be placed in the hands of an unfailingly trustworthy trail guide.”

—Mark Brady, Ph.D., co-founder, Children's Grief Program, Kara, Palo Alto, California

“Brooke Brown’s book Emalia transports the reader to both magical and incredibly painful moments that take place in Hawaii (Maui) and Northern California. As a past Hospice volunteer, I salute Brooke for her deep dive into the trials and tribulations of navigating the heartaches of disease and loss. Brooke and her beloved daughter Emilia’s journey with a cancer diagnosis offers incredible insights for anyone who is facing extremely difficult medical decisions and the myriad emotional and physical challenges that accompany a life-threatening diagnosis. A retired clinical psychologist, Brooke offers valuable advice for surviving the death of a loved one. I highly recommend this book.”

—Former care provider and hospice volunteer, California

“What a generous gift this book is, not only to us readers but also to Emalia, to whose much too short life Brooke Brown has accorded such profound meaning. The writing is heartfelt and moving. As a dreamworker, I appreciate how she interweaves her difficult experience as the mother of a dying daughter with meaningful dreams which lend a poetic aura to her work. A „photo gallery“, where we see Emalia shine in all her splendor, adds to the depth of meaning for the reader. The author is to be commended for this honest sharing of her journey through despair and grief. Hers is a process that will benefit many.”

—Hallfridur J. Ragnheidardottir

“I could not tear myself away from this book. Dr. Brown bares all in this heart wrenching and life affirming story. It’s smart and beautifully written. Their love transcended all.”

—Barbra W.

“I approached this book with trepidation, because I knew sadness would accompany my reading. Brooke’s courage and fine communication skills transformed the book into a cathartic and positive experience. Highly recommended reading for everyone, not just those of us who knew Emalia.”

—Shaun Lyons

“This is for anyone who has ever experienced a loss. Even as you sense the outcome, it compels you to continue. While the first chapters detail the incredible bond mother and daughter had, it's in the final chapters where the golden nuggets are. Written beautifully with love, the author's message that you do not grieve alone, remains with you long after the final pages have been read.”

—Shannon T.

“I read this book within a few days and was pulled right into the journey that Brooke and Emalia took together. It is story of incredible courage and inspiration in the face of unfathomable loss. Brooke writes with such a raw vulnerability painting a vivid picture of her daughter’s determination and grace. She shows how it is possible to survive a loss such as this and gives hope to all those who are going through this. I was particularly interested in reading about her continued relationship with her daughter by way of signs, proving that love is not limited to our physical lifetime.”

—Sarah Rathke, evidential medium

“This book, a mother’s memories of her daughter’s death from cancer, took me back to the time when my own foster daughter suffered and died from that terrible disease. Perhaps because I have lived through it, I read it with great interest as the author told in detail the story from diagnosis to her daughter’s passing. But then she goes on, as a therapist who has clearly worked hard on her powers of observation and analysis, to describe how she coped during and after her daughter’s loss, to recommend ways for others to get through such loss, and her thoughts on the reality of life after life. Highly recommended!”

—Jill Engledow, author of The Maui Trilogy

“This extraordinary and love-filled poignant life story truly has impacted me. Through the unique lens of her loving mom, the reader comes to know what an amazing woman - daughter, wife, mother, friend, teacher- Emalia was. Emalia's soul, her essence, is so beautifully captured in this loving tribute, and I truly wish that I personally had known her. She was an extraordinary blessing to her mom and to so many who had the privilege of her love.
Emalia's mom acknowledges how endlessly blessed she feels to have had Emalia as her daughter, but I want to share that Emalia clearly was equally blessed to have had the mother that she did. Emalia’s continued grace throughout her tortuous cancer journey amazed and inspired her mom, as it will you. But it is perhaps her mom's continuing grace that will stay with you, as it has me.”

—Deborah Cohen

"Brooke Brown takes us into a relationship of unfettered love between mother and daughter, and then opens the door for us to look into how that relationship can be transformed when a loved one passes onward. The outward striving Brooke and Emalia go through to find a means for Emalia's healing exposes the desperate attempt humans make to keep love as we know it, within the testimony of the five senses. But we learn from Brooke to lean on Spirit, knowing it doesn't end when the body ends."

—Karen Riener

“Brooke Brown's book, Emalia, is a gorgeous tribute, not just to her daughter, Emalia, but to the strength of the mother/daughter bond. For any mother who has had to live the rest of her days without her daughter in physical form, Brooke's book will help you see and believe that your connection is not broken. In fact, it remains stronger than ever. I recommend this book to anyone whose child or parent has passed away so much sooner than you believe they "should have." Brooke will help you see that they actually passed exactly when they were destined to.”

—Erica Karlinsky

"Emalia quickly addresses the myth that life is fair. Brooke writes about the diagnosis, the shock, and doctor visits, along with the cruelty that her daughter may never see her son grow up. A mother's story, how she once again provided a womb for her daughter against the disease. And the healing that came along while evoking the power beyond the physical. She will assure you that you are not alone, and the grief that comes with loss will open your heart. A must read for anyone going through loss.”

—Julie Matter

“Brooke Brown's Emalia:A Mother-Daughter Journey from Here to Beyond is an unbelievably honest account of her daughter's struggle with and death from a cancer that should have been found way earlier than it was, and her role as the mother to survive living through this experience. It's a rich and love filled account set mostly in Hawaii, where Hawaiian customs and words bring even deeper meaning to the story.”

—K. T. Brooks