Byline: Lisa Ingrassia

On Sunday, February 19^th with the love and support of great friends I hosted my first “Paint It Forward” event at Pinot’s Palette in Red Bank, NJ.  The energy in the room was electric, you could feel the love.  52 beautiful people came out to celebrate my father’s life and help raise awareness for swallowing disorders!!!  We had a packed house and are grateful to everyone who came out to support the Albert J. Ingrassia Fund! It was a fabulous night of laughter, kindness and love.  To learn more about what prompted this event, please continue reading. continue reading →

By Meikele Lee, author of the children’s book “My Belly has Two Buttons” and lives in Helena, Mt.  She received a 2017 Purple Dragonfly Book Award; Honorable Mention in the category Special Needs/Disability Awareness She is a wife and mother to 3 amazing children, one of whom has a feeding tube.  She has been in cosmetology for over 10 years, but became passionate about blogging when her youngest child’s oral aversions became life threatening.  She used blogging to try and understand her son’s condition and how he can relate to others with or without a feeding tube, and to help educate the public about these life saving devices. continue reading →

It’s hard to know which events inform our reality and which only mark the passing of time.

Waking up in the hospital with a brand new feeding tube on board was clearly one of the former.

But there I was.

I had resisted repeated proposals from medical professionals to have a g-tube inserted. They warned of the worsening dysphagia I faced due to the effects of radiation for throat cancer I’d had years earlier. continue reading →