Unwillable by Jackie M. Stebbins

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Five Things You Might Not Know About Jackie M. Stebbins

As I write this, I have long, dark hair, and I love wearing a lot of makeup. My favorite lipstick is bright red. My favorite color is purple and I wear a lot of hot pink. And I’m thrilled when I get to wear a fancy black dress. Growing up, I had very short hair and in the early nineties, it was even spiked. For many years before I went to school, I wore a dirty, red, baseball cap that said, “Tom’s Auto Body.” That hat went everywhere I did. People routinely mistook me for a boy.

As a teenager, many of my friends had crushes on teeny-bop, heartthrob, young guys. I only had an interest in more senior men. I was infatuated with Tommy Lee Jones and many other older male actors. In high school, I still dug older men. It became the running joke that I’d try my hand at dating by going to the nursing home. Just as I graduated from high school, I met the man I love, one of the only guys I ever dated. He’s only two years older than me and we’re happily married.

I grew up in a small town. There were many red Pontiacs at our high school and knowing who was in what car was important (for parties!), so I began memorizing license plates. In our town of one thousand people, give or take, I knew a lot of people’s license plates. As I write this, I’m pretty sure I know my own license plate, but I’m not sure if I could tell you what the plates are on the family van.

Growing up, I had one big dream: to become a powerful, fancy lawyer, who drove a shiny, purple BMW. It was all I ever thought of after reading my first John Grisham book in fifth grade. I worked tirelessly and followed that dream, although I never purchased a (shiny purple?!) BMW. I only detoured from my pursuit of being a lawyer twice, and both times were in high school. I wanted to be in the FBI and that road led me back to becoming a lawyer. I also wanted to become a motivational speaker, but my mom told me I first needed a career and a special or inspirational story. When I was struck by autoimmune encephalitis in 2018, it upended my life and I lost my career. But as I began to recover, I heard my mother’s words from all those years ago, and said, “Eureka! I have both now!” Today, I’m an author and motivational speaker.

Since college, I’ve been the (self-proclaimed) biggest Elton John super-fan (if you’ve read my memoir, Unwillable, this is not a surprise to you). I’ve seen him in concert four times, including in my hometown of Bismarck, North Dakota, in 2010, where I was right up front, and we fist bumped after his encore! It was absolutely amazing and a friend of mine caught the moment on camera. What I remember the most, besides how he just looked down and popped my fist, was that his shoes were full of bling.

“Jackie Stebbins’ UNWILLABLE is an inspiring story of a brilliant woman’s battle with autoimmune encephalitis and the circle of support--from loving family members to dedicated physicians--who helped guide her through a hard-won recovery. Her story is as moving as it is important and is destined to help so many others facing this condition.”

Susannah Cahalan author of NYT #1 Bestseller Brain on Fire

Read an Excerpt

I remember the moment it hit. It was like the physical feeling of lightning striking me and an earthquake ripping through me all at once. It had an instantaneous feeling of terror and destruction. The explosion started in my brain and reverberated through my entire body. It caught and spread like wildfire.

It is my memory that I sat upright in bed when it felt like the lightning bolt struck my head. My hands and arms immediately started to fly wildly and uncontrollably all over the place, as if I was trying to brace myself while the earthquake tore through me. For just a second, I wanted to scream out for help, but I couldn’t. I peed my pants. And after that, it all goes black.

The memory I have is only an instant long, but I can still feel the desire to scream. I can feel my arms moving so rapidly and uncontrollably that they are almost screaming out too. It is the worst of all the nightmares, all the terrors, and all the episodes I had in that bed for those seven months, in a few split seconds.

About the Author:

Jackie M. Stebbins was living her dream as a nationally recognized family law, criminal defense, and civil litigator. But Stebbins’s career as a lawyer abruptly ended in May, 2018, when she was diagnosed with a rare brain illness, autoimmune encephalitis. Stebbins persevered to make a remarkable recovery and turned herself into an author and motivational speaker. Stebbins is the author of the JM Stebbins blog and host of the Brain Fever podcast. Stebbins’s side hustle includes raising three lovely children with her wonderful husband, Sean, in Bismarck, North Dakota, and in her leisure time she can be found reading, trying to be funny, and aqua jogging.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JackieMStebbins/
Twitter: Twitter
Instagram: Instagram
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-stebbins-725081173/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jmstebbs
Website: http://www.jmstebbins.com
Book website: http://www.unwillable.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61125194

Amazon: https://a.co/d/d89kann
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unwillable-jackie-m-stebbins/1141495526

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