Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived by Karen Debonis

Can a woman who never learned to stand up for herself find the courage to speak up for her son?

Karen is a happily married, slightly frazzled working mother of two when her eight-year-old son, Matthew, develops a strange eye-rolling tic.

Over the next three years, Matthew's tics multiply. He becomes clumsy and lethargic, a gifted program dropout. Karen repeatedly tries to get her husband and the pediatrician to open their eyes, but she is too full of self-doubt, too compulsively agreeable to tear off their blinders.

Exhausted and full of despair, Karen crumples to the bathroom floor one night, wondering if she has the will to carry on. But she must persevere. Who else will fight for her son?

Matthew finally receives a horrifying diagnosis. He is expected to "bounce back," however, convincing Karen that the battle is over. But the pain drags on, and she discovers just how weak-and then exactly how strong-she is.

Ultimately, decades after their saga began, it is Matthew who teaches Karen the true meaning of growth.

An intimate look into the life of a people-pleaser and an exploration of the challenges of motherhood, Growth poses the question: What happens when the most important job in the world demands more than you have to give?