High tech exec finds humility, humor and heart when four family members die in four years.<

October 2000, Redwood City, CA: In her true story, Debbie Gisonni shows that death and trauma can have a positive effect on a person’s outlook on life.

Over the course of four years (1990-1994), Gisonni’s mother, father, sister and favorite aunt all died untimely deaths due to cancer, brain tumors, and suicide. Her mother, Vita, was the last to go after a ten-year battle with chronic illness and disability. During that time, Gisonni held top management positions in the high-tech industry commanding a six-figure income and stock options. Yet, at the peak of her career, she left it all behind to do something more meaningful with her life.

What emerged was the book, VITA’S WILL: Real Life Lessons about Life, Death & Moving On (ISBN 0-595-14204-4, $13.99 paperback, 204 Pages, Dec 2000, iUniverse.com), a story that helps others deal serenely (or at least sanely) with life’s inevitable tragedies. Gisonni’s 44 real life lessons discuss everything from why you should listen with your heart instead of your ears, and how you can talk directly to a doctor or to God.

Tuesdays With Morrie meets Chicken Soup for the Soul® as Gisonni brings humor and sorrow into the horrors of hospitals, the lost dreams of her parents, and the shock of her sister’s suicide. In a drama of the almost unbelievable course of events, Gisonni weaves spirituality and coping strategies with the most important things people need to know from finding humor in the most devastating moments to bringing joy to a loved one from a distance.

“I come from an Italian family with stiff expectations of succeeding the American way,” says Gisonni. “That meant balancing my roles as caretaker, executive and devoted daughter. It was like living inside the high drama of an Italian Opera. (My father even aspired to be a singer!) Through my story, readers will learn to deal with anything life dishes out from the tragic to the trivial.”

Ten percent of Gisonni’s proceeds from VITA’S WILL will be donated to the following institutions: Y-me National Breast Cancer Organization, National Brain Tumor Foundation, International Myeloma Foundation and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Gisonni is Founder and President of Real Life Lessons®, LLC, a company dedicated to serving women in business, people who have lost a loved one, or those who have experienced a major change in their lives. She is President of the San Francisco chapter of the Women’s National Book Association and also works with organizations that teach teenage girls business and life skills.

VITA’S WILL is published by iUniverse.com and distributed through Ingram Book Company. iUniverse.com is the industry leader in a new publishing paradigm using print-on-demand technologies. VITA’S WILL can be ordered and purchased wherever books are sold, in stores or on the Internet.

For more information about VITA'S WILL and Gisonni’s company, Real Life Lessons®, please visit www.reallifelessons.com.

VITA'S WILL: Real Life Lessons about Life, Death & Moving On
ISBN 0-595-14204-4
204 Pages
$13.99 Paperback
Dec 2000
iUniverse.com

Real Life Lessons is a registered trademark of Real Life Lessons.