Sande Donahue was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Some say “the
middle of cheese country” but she prefers to refer to her birth state as the
“middle of God’s forest country,” the North Woods always holding a
special place in her heart. From there, her growing up years were spent
primarily in the Northern Suburbs of Chicago where she first got her start in caregiving by working as a “Candy Striper” for one of the local hospitals. The Candy Stripers were a volunteer group of young girls who spent their time doing menial but yet vital jobs in hospitals such as delivering magazines to elder patients, running errands for the patients, and sometimes just spending an afternoon chatting and brushing an elder patient’s hair.

After graduation, she married and moved to Port Washington, Long Island where she and her husband took over the management of a family restaurant because of illness. Her father-in-law had suffered a severe cardiac arrest that left him paralyzed over his entire body. Ms. Donahue, again, was put in a position of caregiving when she rendered assistance to her mother-in-law in the full-time care of her father-in-law until his death. After selling the business and moving the family back to the Midwest, Ms. Donahue, again, was rendered caregiver for her mother-in-law who, by now, had begun showing signs of Alzheimer’s.

Several years later, her entrepreneurial spirit motivated Sande to begin a computer consulting business working as liaison between clients and manufacturers as companies began to automate their offices. Her extracurricular activities included a two year position as President of the Chicago State Street Business and Professional Woman’s Organization which included a city wide sponsored High Tech career conference with over 2,000 in attendance and a special guest appearance by Chicago luminary, Oprah Winfrey.

Ms. Donahue has always had a penchant for the written word. One of her first writing jobs that allowed her to tap into her creative pen was as a script writer for the famous “Bozo Circus” children’s television show which ran on Superstation WGN nationwide.

Later, she was to find herself as a full-time caregiver to her mother who also was stricken with Alzheimer’s. Throughout her 16 year journey caring for her mother, she kept a journal to record the memorable moments that she always wanted to cherish and gives you inside information on how to realistically deal with the affliction after she and her Mother openly discussed the disease. She has since taken her journal and wrote her first book, Fading Angel: A Chronicle of Love, which opens a window into the world of this debilitating disease and provides help and resources for other families to survive, cope and learn from Sande’s 16 year calling.

She continued to write free-lance for many years and then came JoJo. Since she was such a strong advocate for the care and well-being of animals of all kinds, she and her husband adopted a tiny Yorkie Poo who had been left abandoned and had a history of abuse. His story was heartbreaking and through JoJo’s ever-thankful eyes, she felt that he was harboring a story that needed to be told. She contacted Dr. Kim Ogden, a nationally renowned animal communicator, and together, the three of them were able to develop an extraordinary story as told through the viewpoint of JoJo and his cohorts and in JoJo’s own words. Thus, JoJo: A Dog’s Tale – An Autobiography, was born.