Hilary is on a mission to help parents living with chronic health conditions feel seen, supported, and find solidarity in a global community.
She provides trainings for patients, clinicians, family psychologists, hospitals, and foundations, and is a frequent columnist, conference speaker, and podcast guest. She has been featured in media outlets such as USA Today, Scary Mommy, Medscape, The Daily Mail, and VeryWell Health.
Through her work, Hilary hopes to spark a broader conversation about the unique emotional and logistical challenges families face when a parent has a chronic condition.
Hilary has worked as an author and editor for Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, Pearson, and National Geographic. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Literary Mama, Waging Nonviolence, and Hemispheres. She served as the Associate Vice Chancellor of Adult Education for the City Colleges of Chicago before moving to France in 2017. She is currently writing the book, The Art of Parenting While Sick.
Hilary is the patient co-chair of the severe asthma arm of the European Respiratory Society. In that capacity, she has contributed to research published in The Lancet, European Respiratory Journal, and reports for the World Health Organization.
She holds a BA in Spanish, Italian, and Philosophy from Kenyon College and an MA in Linguistics from the University of Florida. She is the Founder and Director of Grand West Lit Events and lives in the Loire Valley in France with her husband and son.
If you are a parent living with a
chronic condition, you are
not alone.
In my work with hundreds of parents living with lifelong health conditions, I’ve found that while their symptoms and treatments may differ, when it comes to parenting,
their worries are virtually identical.
They aren’t sure how to explain their condition to their children without frightening them. They worry about having a medical emergency and their child seeing them being loaded into an ambulance. They fear their condition is taking a toll on their partner or the other people helping raise their child.
And they struggle with guilt. So much guilt. Guilt about the days spent stuck on the couch.
Guilt when they can’t make it to the playground or a playdate because they are navigating a bad flare-up. Guilt when they miss a piano recital or soccer match because they
are too unwell.
Millions of parents live with chronic conditions that can be unpredictable and,
at times, debilitating.
Yet you rarely hear our stories.
That is why I started The Art of Parenting While Sick. I live with two conditions — severe asthma and Addison’s disease — and was surprised when I couldn’t find any resources on how to parent with a chronic health condition.
Having spent more than two decades in educational publishing, I decided to create the resources and write the book I needed. To develop these, I drew on my own experience, extensive research, and more than 100 hours of interviews with parents, child psychologists, teachers, and medical professionals.
My hope is that the actionable strategies, step-by-step dialogues, and other resources on this site will help you build strong, loving relationships with your children and move from guilt and uncertainty toward greater connection, preparedness,
and confidence.
is growing up in a household with a parent who has a chronic condition
are patients with chronic conditions
can trigger sudden medical emergencies, making family preparedness and age-appropriate training critical
say their doctors have never asked how their condition impacts their family
