The Book: In a genre different from her previous 7 books, Concha uses creative non-fiction personal account to highlight the issue of health. 

At the height of a thriving career as a university professor, she was suddenly stricken with unbearable pain and partial paralysis.  Diagnosed with a debilitating chronic disease that afflicts millions of Americans, especially women, she took control of her own healing. 

Concha reclaimed her cultural values that once strengthened her while embracing new beliefs and practices that helped her discover the powerful healer within. As a Mexican immigrant child, she learned much more than a new language and she tells how, for her, a severe chronic illness meant putting in perspective all areas of her life in order to grow and learn from her adversity. And healing began. Her long and difficult healing process required studying and applying the wisdom of traditional and alternative healers. 

In this book she offers inspirational and informative insights into both Western and complementary healing traditions. Prickly Cactus is a special kind of immigrant story; Concha recounts the role family, friends, and a supportive community in which she reinvented herself to overcome adversity by transforming her life.

Angeles Arrien, Cultural Anthropologist and author of The Second Half of Life writes:

ISBN:  978-1-879384-76-7 (pbk)  $14.95

AVAILABLE: 
Local bookstores (if not on shelf, they can order it)
Cypress House Press
Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
Powell's Books