Sylvia McGrath

Contributor

Sylvia was born in Surrey England; her father an engineer was transferred several times taking his family to Scotland and then to Canada. As a result of these moves Sylvia went to twelve different schools over the years. To compensate for losing friends along the way, she turned to books and became an avid reader with a great love for books and art.

At one of her schools her teacher entered Sylvia in a national art competition. She was one of the four finalists out of four thousand entries. The school won an award that went towards enhancing their art program. At the same school she and a friend wrote a book together that was published and put in the school library.

Sylvia just loved children and whenever she could she would work with them. For a few years she was a resident housemother in a short term home for children run by the Stirlingshire Council in Scotland. Sylvia was responsible for the day to day care of about twelve children who ages ranged from five to fifteen. She enjoyed reading to and assisting the children with their homework. Over the years Sylvia received letters from some of the older children from the home, who thanked her for her patience and understanding, and who themselves were now working with children.

When Sylvia’s daughter was young, got she got involved in volunteer work with children at schools, Sunday school and Block Parent Associations.

A couple of years ago Sylvia took a course in freelance writing, which she really enjoyed as it was the key to follow her dreams. Since completing the course, she has written for children, is a published poet and is co-authoring along with two Maximum Life Coaches, a book about living with chronic illness. Besides working as a freelance writer, Sylvia still finds time to volunteer as a literacy tutor for her local Learning Centre. Her main focus is to write books for young adults who have learning challenges and children with chronic illnesses. She feels there is so much out there for healthy children, that to provide interesting books, newsletters etc. for children confined to home or bed is really needed.

Latest Articles

Melanoma
One of the most deadly forms of skin cancer is called Melanoma which develops in the cells that produce melanin (the pigment that gives the skin color.)
Jun 15, 2007 - Sylvia McGrath
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL)
In particular the spongy tissue inside bones where the blood cells are made.This illness got its name from a group of white blood cells that are called lymphocytic.
Jun 8, 2007 - Sylvia McGrath
Legionnaires’ disease
These outbreaks occurred in hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, cruise ships, prisons. The dominator was a bacterium that at times was caused by water and contaminated soil
May 25, 2007 - Sylvia McGrath
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
IBS affects one in five adults and more than one out of every ten visits to the doctor's results in this diagnosis.
May 8, 2007 - Sylvia McGrath
Chronic Insomnia
How much sleep a person requires does depend on the individual. Seven and a half hours is average; some people need nine to ten while others survive and do well on less.
May 2, 2007 - Sylvia McGrath
Huntington’s disease
The word chorea is a Greek word that means dance. This refers to a characteristic of the disease which includes quick, incessant, jerky and involuntary movement
Apr 4, 2007 - Sylvia McGrath
Stroke
A Stroke is one of the main causes of adult disability and the third leading cause of death next to cancer and heart disease.
Mar 28, 2007 - Sylvia McGrath
The heart (continued)
We will look at other heart problems, a continuation of the previous article, which was about the heart, its anatomy and information on heart attacks.
Mar 19, 2007 - Sylvia McGrath
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an eye disease, and one of the most common causes of blindness that affects one in a hundred Canadians and three million Americans.
Mar 6, 2007 - Sylvia McGrath
The Gall Bladder
The main job of the gall bladder is to store bile, a yellow-green bitter fluid that is produced in the liver cells.
Mar 1, 2007 - Sylvia McGrath