Book Confessions of an Ex-Ballerina

Jessie Campanelli did what many older sisters do and dared her little brother Paul. But unlike all the other kids who went inside that abandoned house, Paul didn't return. His two friends, Jake and Richie, said that the house ate Paul. Of course adults didn't believe that. Adults never believe what kids say. They thought someone kidnapped Paul, or otherwise hurt him. They thought Paul had disappeared in a way that was ordinary, explainable.

The disappearance of her little brother broke Jessie's family apart in ways that would never be repaired. Jessie grew up, had a child of her own, kept living on the same street where the house that ate her brother sat, crouched and waiting. And darkness seemed to spread out from that house, a darkness that was alive—alive and hungry.

Not knowing if he would ever see his wife and daughter again, Alfred battled on, through the humiliation and the pain, even defying the guards by swimming in the water reserves of Auschwitz. Somehow - miraculously - he survived, swimming every day until the end of his life.

When Jonathan first threw his parachute—in that instant—the rushing air was still, the falling stopped, and a dream of flying began to take soaring, free from the burdens he carried, held in the sky by a fabric wing. But a cancer diagnosis began a cascade—surgeries, treatments, recurrences, and life-altering side effects. Learning to fly felt impossible.

Told with candor, vivid detail, and flashes of humor, Unflappable: Soaring Beyond a Diagnosis is more than a story of rare disease, it’s about learning from hardship, finding community, and discovering healing, even when cures are out of reach. Jonathan shares how he learned to accept a body forever changed, let go of old identities, and move through turbulent moments in life with grace and resilience.

For anyone touched by disease or disability, those who fly or dream, for medical practitioners seeking greater understanding, Unflappable offers an honest and compelling look at what it means to live fully in the face of uncertainty.