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In 1981, author Tommye-K. Mayer survived a nearly fatal cerebral hemorrhage. While she did indeed survive, Tommye-K. was left with a paralyzed hand, arm-a whole left side paralyzed-the very deficits experienced by so many stroke survivors.

A Writer:

Boston-based, Tommye-K. Mayer has been published in a number of both mainstream and disability publications including: The Boston Globe, Boston Broadsheet, Home Office Computing, Careers and Disability, The Boston Tab, Marblehead Magazine, North Shore Sunday, Howlings, and Regional Review, Rough Draft. Listen to a February 10, 1999 interview with the author on Morning Edition with Bob Edwards on NPR, National Public Radio. Need RealAudio Player? Download it free.

Since that hemorrhage in 1981, Tommye-K. Mayer rehabilitated herself sufficiently to work full-time and to run, yes run! the Tufts 10K through the streets of Boston, MA, the Feaster Five, along North Andover, MA streets, an about eight miles of the Boston Marathon, and she helped carry the Olympic Torch through Boston en route to the Summer Games. This story coming soon as Mayer's "Teaching Me to Run"

A Speaker:

Since the publication of One-Handed in a Two-Handed World, Mayer has addressed many audiences. Her venues have included Rehabilitation In-Services (as few as a dozen experienced therapists to as many as a hundred), Conferences (with sessions as large as 250 attendees) and Symposia, Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation College course Visiting Lecturer, and at Stroke Support groups. For information about scheduling Tommye-K. Mayer to speak at your college or university, association, or organization, email your inquiry to princegal@princegallison.com.

An Activist

Tommye-K. Mayer has been a politically active citizen almost since the beginning. As a young girl she accompanied her mother into the voting booth. In junior high, she actively worked to help elect the first woman Selectman in her hoimetown, Marblehead, Massachusetts. The following year she actively campaigned for Senator George McGovern, even carrying her books in a plastic blue and white McGovern bag.

Since then, Mayer has remained active, boasting a "perfect" voting record. "If there's an election, I learn about the issues, and I vote," Mayer says. She has worked as National Field Staff on a presidential campaign, field staff for countless elections, post-stroke as Campaign Manager on a local Selectman's campaign, and as Campaign Manager for a State Rep candidate.

Mayer is currently active in Boston's North End neighborhood regarding construction impact on the residents and small businesses, and regarding development issues involving this most historic neighborhood in the City, perhaps in Massachusetts, and maybe even the U.S. The North End is home to the world famous "Old North Church' which houses the historically significant "One if by land, two if by sea steeple."

Mayer is also active in the "Universal Healthcare' movement, as a member of the Massachusetts Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Healthcare. We'll do a statewide petition to put the referendum on the ballot in 2000," Mayer says. "And then nationally. Universal healthcare is a must," she says, "because if you're lucky, you'll live long enough to be disabled.' She pauses, for effect, her hazel eyes locked to yours. "I was the specimen of healthy, the one my pediatrician described as having the best muscular-skeletal development of any child he'd ever seen. And I only had to wait until I was 23."

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