Valerie Bourdain is native Nebraskan and mother of two. Her son Ryan Bosselman is now a grown-up and has a real job doing something with his brilliant math brain. Her crossfit son is handsome, charming, and at 6’3″ towers over his 5’4″ mom. When he is not conquering the business world in Kansas City, Ryan is traveling across the globe pursuing his own photography passion.
Daughter Megan died of adrenal cortical cancer on Easter Sunday, 2008 and rests in eternity with the Lord. With passion, Valerie blogs about Megan’s journey through cancer and the raw and real experiences in the life and the death of a child. Her caregiving experience also includes her mother’s death from lung cancer in 2011, and her father’s death from Chronic Lymphomatic Leukemia (CLL) in 2012 after 20 years of courageous living with the chronic disease.
The heart of Valerie’s writing is geared toward the triumphs and trials of being a caregiver. The death of Valerie’s father officially ended a decade of being the primary caregiver to three loved ones with cancer. “Put Up Your Umbrella – Finding Shelter in the Storm of Chronic Illness,” her first and much anticipated book, launched February 26, 2017, the day before her 60th birthday.
Valerie is best known for her wit in writing. Through humor, laced with stories of her own human failings, Valerie strives to connect to the real core of humanity, even to those who have not suffered extreme personal loss. It is her hope that as she dialogues about every day life that the reader will laugh a little more, cry without apology, and hold their loved ones a bit closer.
Valerie’s is in a committed relationship with Pugsley, affectionately called “The Little Monster”, a Boston terrier who eats buttons off of sweaters. You can contact Valerie for public speaking engagements at [email protected]
