What is Boja Pooka?
There were tornadoes off the coast of Venice, sightings in Sacramento, floodings and mudslides in Southern California and snow storms in Paris and in Africa — all to which my mother said to me, “Boja Pooka”. “Boja Pooka,” she continued, was what her parents used to say when “God is knocking”. When the sound of thunder rocks the sky, Boja Pooka. When the sun is eclipsed, Boja Pooka. When a rupture crosses one’s path, Boja Pooka.
In October 2000, I was living in Paris and came to the States for vacation. I whispered to myself, “Boja Pooka” when visiting my aunt in Chicago. The morning after I arrived, I had a seizure and was diagnosed with a brain tumor the size of a lime in Broca’s region of my brain. Boja Pooka.
This experience lead me to realize that Boja Pooka happens all the time, every day. One does not need to have a brain tumor to know that life today is precious. This web site is a reflection of my path that lead me to heal and continues to do so today seventeen years later. Most importantly, the year I spent dealing with this diagnosis and the treatment that followed, strengthened my belief that life is binary. One is in life or not. Do you want to be in life? I answer this question ever day. Yes, I do and I am in life today. Boja Pooka.
