![\"Tiffany](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/EJZY5K7LMRDVTPE43X5RDH7GLM.jpg\"\/)
Tiffany Graham Charkosky is releasing her debut memoir, \u201cLiving Proof: How Love Defied Genetic Legacy.\u201d (Courtesy of Little A)Courtesy of Little A<\/p>\nLAKEWOOD, Ohio — Driven to find strength through the power of family love while on a terrifying journey, Tiffany Graham Charkosky on Oct. 21 releases her debut memoir, \u201cLiving Proof: How Love Defied Genetic Legacy.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a coincidence that the timing of the Lakewood author\u2019s book release is tied to National Hereditary Cancer Awareness Week (Sept. 29-Oct. 5).<\/p>\n
\u201cI discovered about 13 years ago that my family carried a genetic mutation called Lynch syndrome,\u201d said Charkosky, who grew up in Lakewood before moving to Lorain County and graduating from Keystone High School in 2000. \u201cMy mom died of colon cancer when I was 11. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor most of my life, I just sort of chalked that up to bad luck — like a thing that happened in my past, but I had survived and grown stronger. Then I learned that it was not only a thing that was in my past, but was a thing that my family could continue facing in the future, through this being one of the hereditary cancer mutations.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tiffany Graham Charkosky is releasing her debut memoir, \u201cLiving Proof: How Love Defied Genetic Legacy.\u201d (Courtesy of Little A)Courtesy of Little A<\/p>\n
It was around a decade ago, Charkosky, who studied English and creative writing at Kenyon College and holds a master\u2019s degree in urban planning, design and development from Cleveland State University, began conceiving the idea of what would become \u201cLiving Proof: How Love Defied Genetic Legacy.\u201d <\/p>\n
After shopping the manuscript in 2024, she found an agent who led to getting a book deal with Amazon Publishing imprint Little A exactly a year ago this month. <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Living Proof\u2019 chronicles my journey of deciding whether to undergo genetic testing, what that process looks like and then sort of what the emotional and physical aftermath is of learning that I did inherit the genetic mutation that my mother had and that my uncle had — who also passed away from it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhich is how he learned that the mutation existed. When I was going through my testing process and evaluating all of the options in front of me, I realized back in 2011, I couldn\u2019t find the book that I needed to read was when this was all happening.\u201d <\/p>\n
Over the last two decades, Charkosky worked at the intersection of arts and urban planning — first at LAND studio<\/a> and most recently as Director of Arts & Culture for Cleveland Public Library<\/a> — helping artists across mediums implement projects in public spaces throughout Cleveland.<\/p>\n Now she\u2019s hoping to help another segment of society.<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been books that have been written along the way, so this is not the only book of its kind to explore genetic testing and hereditary cancers, but I\u2019m hoping to be able to add my story to this world,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cThat we\u2019re looking at how we are making sense of genetic information and living great lives in spite of not having the best genes.\u201d <\/p>\n The author is also planning a book release party from 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 23 at the BottleHouse Brewery & Meadery in Lakewood. <\/p>\n As for what her mother would think about her debut memoir, Charkosky didn\u2019t hesitate. <\/p>\n \u201cShe was a really optimistic person who would be happy to know that we are doing what we can to help other families not go through the same losses,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Read more news from the Sun Post Herald<\/a> here. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Driven to find strength through the power of family love while on a terrifying journey,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":272005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[815,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-272004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-genetics","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115304910697107178","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}