East Meadow Cancer Survivor Publishes New Book

For one East Meadow author, not even cancer could hold her back.

Yvonne Llauger Amato, 60, has been a homeowner in East Meadow for over 30 years. Just 18 years ago, at the age of 42, she was diagnosed with Stage IIB Breast Cancer. Subsequently, she had a mastectomy, went through chemotherapy and radiation treatments and later had reconstructive surgery.

But she survived it all.

"Regretfully, I had to stop working due to the side effects from the chemotherapy, which was constant fatigue and headaches," Llauger Amato said.

After extensive recovery, Llauger Amato joined the East Meadow PTA in 1997.

"I served as a volunteer on various committees during my years of participation," she said. "The last two years of my school community involvement, I assisted families that came from foreign countries with language and cultural barriers."

She served as an interpreter at parent-teacher conferences and also at meetings with parents whose children had learning disabilities, and she also received honors from the PTA Council and its members at the Founder’s Day dinners in 2000 and 2004.

Now fast forward to 2 1/2 years ago, which is when Llauger Amato thought of yet another way to contribute to society.

"I was sitting and watching a full moon, and the story came into my head," she said. "I sat down and just started writing."

Things were going well with the book, a romantic love story based out of the Bronx, until hardships struck Llauger Amato once again. She suffered a minor stroke in December of 2009 and had surgery to repair a small hole in her heart.

She was strongly considering scrapping the book altogether, but one nurse's words really put things into perspective.

"She told me that whatever I need to do, I need to do it now, for I had not fulfilled my destiny," Llauger Amato said. "That's when I knew I had to finish the book."

Remembering the Moon was released on Jan. 12,  and is available through Amazon.com, Authorouse.com, BarnesandNobles.com and Borders.com. You can also visit the book's official web site.