Today we’d like to introduce you to Diann Shaddox.
Diann, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Diann’s Bio
Diann Shaddox was born December 18th in Nashville, Arkansas, and is an author, speaker, a Native American, and a member of the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma.
Diann is best known for her published books: “A Faded Cottage”, “Whispering Fog”, “Miranda”, “Spirits of Sacred Mountain”, “The Gatekeeper of Crystal Pond”, “Hidden Dreams”, “Diary of Olivia Bellamead”, and “Small Street”. www.diannshaddox.com
She was diagnosed with Essential Tremor in the 1980s.
In 2014, she founded the Diann Shaddox Foundation for Essential Tremor. www.diannshaddoxfoundation.org. Since then, she has become an advocate for research into a cure for Essential Tremor.
Diann is a Native American and a member of the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma.
Diann’s Story
I was born and grew up in a small southern town of Nashville, Arkansas, the youngest and only daughter of William and Mary Ann.
Tragically, fate intervened when my father, a crop duster, died at the age of 25 in a plane crash a month before I was born; therefore, I never met my father. After my father’s death, my mother, who grew up in Miami, Oklahoma (a member of the Wyandotte Nation), moved back to Miami. She died when I was 3 years old.
After my mother’s death, I returned to Nashville, Arkansas, to live with my grandparents. When I was 9, my granddaddy suffered a stroke and passed away, leaving my grandmother, Mamow, alone to take care of me.
I learned early in life about the reality of death and how life shouldn’t be wasted. Mamow, who lost her right hand in a factory accident in Nashville, Arkansas, ingrained in me that you should never give up and never let anything stop you. She taught herself to write, cook, and even sew and make quilts using only her left hand, with no prosthetics. She never used the word ‘handicapped.’
Growing up in a small town with Mamow was wonderful: learning to fish, growing a garden, and, most importantly, experiencing the patience of a grandmother. The stories my family shared helped bring many of my stories/books to life. Swimming in creeks shaded by tree branches hanging over the water, playing late into the night on cool summer evenings, catching lightning bugs, swinging on an old swing, and staring up at the stars helped my vivid imagination grow.
Like most people, life moved quickly for me—graduating from Nashville High School, a real Scrapper, then college, marrying my sweetheart Randy, having children, and holding onto my dreams of many characters.
My life remained very busy, and years seemed to fly by. However, since I was very young, complete stories kept flowing in my mind, but I pushed them aside, hoping they would disappear. They didn’t.
So I gave in.
It was 2005, and I sat down in my office in Leander, TX, and began to write. I didn’t overthink or plan what to write about. Night after night, I simply let the first story unfold. Then, I moved on to the next story, and then the next. Love stories, sci-fi, and children’s stories emerged one after the other. I put them aside to publish later.
However, years later, I was living in Aiken, SC. It was December 18th, 2010—my birthday—and sleep eluded me. I headed into my office, which I called my cubby. I sat at my computer and stared down at my hands. They were shaking uncontrollably, and I couldn’t type.
As I call it, like fluttering birds’ wings.
The tremors grew, as did my anger. I stared at the computer screen, and in a burst of defiance, my hands typed, “Happy Birthday, dumb-ass!” Those words brought A Faded Cottage to life, a Christmas love story. A journal of a famous artist, not of his life, but of only two weeks. His story about living with Essential tremor, losing the two things he loved—painting great masterpieces and his one true love.
I decided that “A Faded Cottage” needed to be published; it was time for me to share my life with tremors with the world.
I had lived my entire life in silence, hiding my disease. My friends and family didn’t even understand what my life was like. I have Essential Tremor (ET). I kept my ET a secret, believing I was strange. I have worked tirelessly to hide my tremors since that one day in my early twenties when my right hand started to tremor so severely that I couldn’t write. Now my head, voice, legs, and internal tremors have joined my tremoring hands.
Living with Essential Tremor isn’t for the faint of heart. My tremors disrupted my life. Everyday tasks we take for granted, such as eating, applying makeup and jewelry, writing, and even signing my books, are difficult. I loved cross-stitch, sewing, playing the piano, and singing, and I kept up with my hobbies for a while, but each year they became more challenging.
Now my piano sits silent like I was.
In 2013, I was busy promoting “A Faded Cottage” at book signings across the country.
At my book signings, people living with ET began to share their stories, just like mine, in person, through emails, and even on phone calls, begging for help. I was shocked to learn I wasn’t alone.
When I learned that there are over 160 million people worldwide and so many children living in silence, desperate and begging me for help, I knew something had to be done.
I wasn’t going to live in silence anymore. Inspired by stories from others with ET, I recognized the need for more research and was determined to make a difference. With my husband, Randy Miles’ support, we founded the Diann Shaddox Foundation in 2014.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My life alone has had many challenges, and I believe, as my Mamow taught me, in believing in yourself and in living life to the fullest.
However, when I decided to take on the challenge of bringing Essential Tremor out of the shadows after 150 years and to find a cure, my life was torn apart. I thought my life was perfect at the beginning of 2014. My first book was published, and I was at book signings across the country, meeting people, and everything was wonderful. In April, my husband, my son Rick, who agreed to serve as the Executive Director of the Diann Shaddox Foundation Essential Tremor Research, and I were excited to learn that the government had approved the non-profit. But, there’s always a but. In May 2014, my son went to the hospital with a severe headache and found out he had a stage 4 brain tumor and died within two weeks.
My world slammed to a stop.
I knew my son wouldn’t want me to give up. I taught my son to live his life to the fullest just as I had been taught, and he lived more in his short life than many people live in a lifetime. I believe we all have a purpose in life, and my purpose is to bring a cure for millions living with Essential Tremor.
I will not let my son down, and I work daily fighting to find a cure for Essential Tremor. “My mission is a world without Essential Tremor.
However, “My passion is to tell my stories through my book,” so I have many more stories to tell, including my autobiography.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
After the Diann Shaddox Foundation was established, I decided it was time to bring more of my stories to life. So I started with “Whispering Fog”, a time travel romance; “Miranda”, a historical fiction, a journal of a young girl living in the late 1800’s; “Spirits of Sacred Mountain”, about a young Native American boy’s life spinning out of control and a magical mountain with deep hidden secrets, “The Gatekeeper of Crystal Pond”, Not What Lies Above, but Below, “Hidden Dreams”, During the 1960’s, a wealthy plantation owner’s daughter and a poor country boy discover passion that rises above tragedy, “Diary of Olivia Bellamead”, a love story telling tales of struggles of the south, along with heartbreaking stories of the north binding them together, & “Small Street”, a murder mystery.
Proceeds from my books go to support the foundation, so I decided to combine book signings with fundraisers across South Carolina, such as the Aiken Wine and Sign, Folly Beach Wine & Sign, Christmas in the 1800s, 2nd Sunday on King Street in Charleston, and many more.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
My passion is telling my stories and watching the characters come to life. It is a calming experience for me. My only regret is that I didn’t surrender and let my stories unfold early in my life. Sometimes we let the responsibilities of life interfere with truly living. Everyone believes there isn’t enough time for the things we want to do, but if you desire something enough, you will make time, and that’s what I did. I would get up for a few hours in the middle of the night to write, not every night, just when the story was ready to be told. I was surprised that I still had energy the next day; I believed it was because I was doing something I loved.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.diannshaddoxfoundation.org and www.diannshaddox.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realdiannshaddox/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diann.shaddox/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/diann-shaddox/58/622/750
- Twitter: https://x.com/Diann_Shaddox
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVnIaHkyt6dDS4LpBdS249g
