ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

A Labor of Love, Vol. 1: Understanding Hercules is Anna Arapakos’ third book, but she has many talents and interests. She taught high school English and Russian for 32 years and is currently a substitute teacher. She has led 16 trips abroad with students, 5 with her church, and continues to travel extensively on her own. Greece holds a special place in her heart. Her “3 Rs” are read, write, and run, but she is passionate about Christ and her church, family, and friends. She shows a zest for life and enjoys living each day to the fullest.

 

 

THE BOOKS

You hold the first of two volumes of one giant love story in your hands! In essence, this story is about Anna Arapakos’ father and how she came to care for him when he was elderly; this phenomenon is a universal experience all will share or witness in one capacity or another. If you are interested in probing into life’s hows and whys, you will appreciate the information she shares in this first volume. Here, you’ll discover the science behind Huntington’s disease (HD) and her Greek father’s life from birth until age sixty through carefully chosen family stories that bring to life historical facts that shaped his outlook and foundational experiences. That way, you will have a baseline to see how HD impacts and distorts certain inherent features, ways, and tendencies of her father. You will learn about genetics, neurology, and critical characteristics of this rare and progressive disease and will be able to distinguish it from other neurodegenerative diseases. She shares this foundational information on HD so you can appreciate how and why changes occur at every level — intellectual, physical, psycho-emotional, and spiritual.

In A Labor of Love, Volume 1: Understanding Hercules, Miss Arapakos’ father is “Hercules,” and the portion of the myth she shares in this volume revolves around everything in Hercules’ life before he undertakes the labors for which he has become so well-known. Here is also where she recounts her father’s cultural-historical background and the essentials of Huntington’s disease, including its features, the genetic backdrop, its impact on the brain, and much more. Then, she proceeds to make apt analogies between Hercules and her father during the formative years; this book stops at the point when her dad retires and his disease really “kicks in.”

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You hold the second of two volumes of one giant love story! This story is about Arapakos’ father and how she came to care for him when he was elderly. There is no more popular Greek myth than the one of the hero Hercules, and while you may not know her father or her, by the time she superimposes her father’s saga onto the labors of Hercules, you will! Arapakos’ overarching aim is for you and your parents to benefit from what she has to tell you. Hercules and she had much in common: they both wanted to help make things right despite the odds, and both proved victorious.

In A Labor of Love, Volume 2: Helping Hercules, the roles reverse, and you find Arapakos taking on the part of Hercules as she performs her adaptation of the twelve “Herculean Labors” to care for her father when Huntington’s disease began making its mark on his life and person. She retells each labor Hercules undertook before making parallels to what she did for her father. She is confident the herculean myth and her father’s story will move you. The circle of love can continue through your actions and a better-informed mind and heart-set for your loved one in need.

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CONTACT THE AUTHOR

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BUY THE BOOKS

 

In this first volume, Anna D. Arapakos introduces you to her father’s genetic disease and bio-historical backdrop using the frame of Hercules’s life before he performed his famous labors.

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ISBN 13 (SOFT): 9798385033515
ISBN 13 (eBook): 9798385033522


 

In this second volume, Anna D. Arapakos shares how she used the 12 Labors of Hercules as her platform to compare the caretaking steps she did for her father who had Huntington’s disease.

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ISBN 13 (SOFT): 9798385033539
ISBN 13 (eBook): 9798385033546