Coping with disabilities spun book series

Real life can be more inspiring than fiction and fantasies. The Odyssey of flesh-and-blood contemporary cannot be denied.

The history of Latonya Littlejohn, affectionately called Tonya, stands in stark contrast to myths and instills far more inspiration, pound for pound, than legends.

The bleak and painful birth of Tonya Littlejohn on January 24, 1979, in Rock Hill, York County, S.C., and the determined actions of this victim of birth defects prove that no one has to be captive to their circumstances.

The gripping series of the Littlejohn books portrays different aspects of her life, ranging from adoption, grim birth defects and chronic disabilities, teenage pregnancy, and the stigma of childbirth out of wedlock.

Despite all this adversity, Tonya later welcomed a healthy and adorable son, who remains perfectly fit, whole, responsible, and productive.  He is the general manager of a phone retail store.

Immediately after her birth, Tonya was airlifted to Charlotte for brain surgery. Doctors observed that her head was abnormally large. Hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, caused fluid buildup, resulting in a fast-growing or unusually large head. A bulging soft spot on the head, extreme sleepiness, vomiting, irritability, a high-pitched cry, and eyes that look downward are dismal symptoms.

Spina bifida causes fussiness, difficulty soothing, feeding challenges, sucking and swallowing issues, coupled with seizures and slow growth. The most severe condition is myelomeningocele, a neurological tube defect preventing the spinal column from closing. Symptoms: Nerves protrude into the sac.  Causing leg weakness, paralysis, bladder and bowel control issues.  Genetics and the environment play roles as causative agents.

Treatment was immediate surgery. She was hospitalized for more than a week, only discharged after she was observed to be growing normally and she was cleared by the medical team.

Tonya cannot count all the surgeries and hospital visits during the following decades.  Her gaggle of medicines is best described as polypharmacy because it takes all that to combat so many afflictions simultaneously.

From birth, she went right to foster care and remained there until April of 1980. She was then 14 months old.

Because she was so delicate, her adoptive parents protected her as best they could.  A strike to the head could have been fatal. Understandably, she seldom played with other children. And then only with the utmost caution.

Sundays she visited the grandparents of her adoptive parents, Floyd and Virginia Ray of Spartanburg, S.C.

Tonya’s multiple conditions required much treatment at Mary Black Hospital, a short walking distance from their house.  She also frequented Spartanburg Regency for more specialized care.  Countless major medical interventions caused her formative years to flee by in a blur.

Subconsciously, she was collecting and cataloging data for her books to come years later in a deluge. The writing process was cathartic, therapeutic, and liberating. Data flowed out of her as if from a broken dam.   

This explosion of books did not result from mere love of language, but was driven by a compelling need to express what happened to her.

Tonya attended public schools and displayed no literary bent. In fact, bullying drove her to quit school in the tenth grade.

Encounters were often so dramatic that recollecting details later was painful but free-flowing.

Bullying was a frequent experience even though friends often rushed to her defense, saving her from fisticuffs.

Learn how she managed to thrive despite an abusive marriage, endured a bitter divorce, and found love and remarriage.

Share her exhilarating highs and lows of navigating a new marriage with no guarantees of a final happy outcome.

See the newlyweds claw their way through misunderstandings and adjustment to each other’s needs.

Tonya wrote her first book, “Delayed but Not Denied: The Story of Torie,” in 2018, and her tenth book, “Bent But Not Broken: The Story of Tonya,” was finished in 2026.  Tonya is now writing another book in August of 2026.

All copies are on Amazon by Latonya Littlejohn.

Her new book bears her married name, Latonya Reams.  “After the Vows, Finding Love After the Divorce.” It is scheduled to drop on Amazon on November 27th.

Tonya is available for book tours. Send messages to sources@whatupnews.online.