For Colorado Springs author and mother Casey Bradley Gent, life existed in limbo for years. After her son, Beau, was diagnosed with lupus at 13, Gent assumed the role many parents of sick children do: their primary advocate.

After years of helping take care of Beau and seeing him through college, Gent released her memoir, “The Match and The Spark,” in December. While the book details Beau’s struggle with his autoimmune disease and through the success of his kidney transplant, it focuses on Gent’s journey as his caretaker.

“My audience for the book is certainly all the support systems that hold up the people who are chronically ill,” Gent said.

“All the real fighting is of course the patient — but I think at least in Beau’s case because he was a teenager and young adult, it was always good to have parents there to voice questions. I had more life experience, and I didn’t feel intimidated by the doctors like a younger person might.”

Beau’s diagnosis posed more than just a mortal threat. It forced Gent and her family to figure out the extent to which the diagnosis would define and morph their life.

“Part of my coping mechanism was that each time we would get a new diagnosis or something stacked on top of his initial diagnosis, I would call it out, give it its label, and then that was the end of that diagnosis having power over us,” Gent said.

“Then it became a matter of: what is the next action? What is our next step toward wellness?”

This balancing of diagnoses and power followed the family through the health journey, and Gent highlights the importance of honing this perspective in “The Match and The Spark.”

“We started the process of using the term ‘wrecked,’ like we felt wrecked on a certain day,” Gent said. “But we never said that we were ‘broken.’ I think there’s a profound difference between those two words. I always wanted us to feel like we may be at the lowest of lows, but we’re not in pieces.”

A Colorado State University graduate with a degree in journalism, Gent used her love of writing to sculpt this memoir for everyone struggling with chronic illness either directly as a patient or by proxy as an advocate.

“I just thought, if another mom is feeling beat down in a hospital room as her child is going in for another test or procedure, maybe I can write a chapter that she can pick up and feel like there’s a kindred spirit in the world.”

Beau, after going to school for nursing, now works at the same children’s hospital where he received care.

Gent runs her photography company, Snowshoe Studios, and the family has emerged triumphant after years of pain.

“I really do think that sometimes we are called to do things that are bigger than us,” Gent said.

“I get really sweet notes from people across the country just saying thank you for putting some of these experiences in words. That’s the whole point. I’m thankful for that.”

At 6 p.m. Thursday, Gent will present “The Match and The Spark” at the Colorado Springs location of the Tattered Cover.

What: Casey Bradley Gent book talk

When: 6 p.m. Thursday

Where: Tattered Cover, 112 N. Tejon St.

Price: Free

Casey Bradley Gent will discuss her memoir, “The Match And The Spark,” at the Tattered Cover next week.

courtesy of Jeff Bernhard

Casey Bradley Gent will present her memoir “The Match And The Spark” at the Tattered Cover on August 10.

Courtesy

After years of health challenges, Gent’s son Beau graduated nursing school in May 2023 and went on to work at the same hospital he received care at.

Courtesy