A Memoir About Living with Bell's Palsy

All Of It with Alison Stewart | Dec 31, 2021

[REBROADCAST FROM October 5, 2021] After two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee and playwright Sarah Ruhl successfully gives birth after a high-risk pregnancy, she thinks the worst of her health crises are behind her. Then, the left side of her face becomes paralyzed, due to Bell’s palsy. She is assured that in 90% of cases, the condition begins to improve, and eventually recovers fully. But that doesn’t happen. Ruhl chronicles her struggles with Bell’s palsy, and with post-partum depression, in her new memoir, Smile: The Story of a Face.

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