Doggedness is an inspiring, true story of the author's determination to matter and triumph over adversity. The daughter of a violent father and neglectful mother, she is paralyzed after receiving Salk's polio vaccine. At the age of eleven, shunned in hospitals, she recognizes a calling to become a nurse to show that compassion helps people feel better. Elements of compassion, both loving and kindness, are instilled in her by her beloved family dog Pepper and Polish grandfather Dziadzia. Endowed with gifted intelligence, encouraged by teachers, and strengthened by swimming, she earns a Ph.D. in Nursing and post-doctoral certificates in family therapy. As a nurse, a tenured professor of nursing, and a family therapist, she copes with post-traumatic, post-polio, and dissociative symptoms. For healing, and assurance that her young child is not the recipient of her legacy, she engages in family of origin work with the renowned family theorist and therapist, Murray Bowen. Detailed and penetrating, they get to the heart of complex feelings and complicated family dynamics, which are revealed in this book.