Pilgrimage: A Doctor’s Healing Journey
by Donna Chacko, M.D.
In her inspiring true story, Dr. Donna Chacko unveils the heart work it takes to achieve the serenity we all desire.
Book Summary
How unbearable marital strife drove a successful doctor to surrender control and ultimately find her path to serenity, health, and God.
On the outside, it looked like Donna Chacko had it all—lucrative and rewarding career, beautiful family, comfortable home. But inside, Donna was in turmoil. Her marriage was on the brink, crises were brewing, and her home felt like her heart— about to break.
In Pilgrimage, Donna lays her life bare as she digs into her upbringing, relationships, life choices, and fears in a deeply personal journey toward healing and wholeness. Join her as she surrenders her control and discovers that serenity and health are most easily grasped when our hands and hearts are open to what God longs to give us.
Packed with hard-won insights, this inspiring memoir includes practical advice for beginning your own pilgrimage toward health in mind, body, and spirit.
Order & Purchase Information
Pilgrimage is available in Kindle ($7.99) and paperback ($14.99).
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Awards & Critical Acclaim
Awards
Reader Views Literary Awards
Gold Medal Winner (Body/Mind/Spirit)
Catholic Media Association Book Awards
1st Place (Marriage and Family Living)
1st Place (Self-Published Books)
Honorable Mention (Healing & Self Help)
Illumination Book Awards
Gold Medal Winner (Illness and Dying)
Critical Acclaim
“… a treasure trove filled with hope, inspiration, and practical tools to integrate one’s mind, body, and spirit.”
Brian J. Plachta, author and spiritual director
Dr. Chacko offers a compelling path to wholeness of body, mind and spirit that all seek on the pilgrimage of life.
Jem Sullivan, author and educator
If a memoir is to inspire, consider this book your next read.
Sister Meg Funk, Benedictine Nun and author
“Her words are a witness to all of us, as she encourages us to make our own journey, with God at our side, to new happiness, peace, and life.”
Janelle Goetcheus, co-founder of Christ House
[Donna] gently opens her heart and our eyes to the healing power of self-reflection, prayer, and self-care.
Lisa Banks-Williams, psychiatric nurse practitioner, educator, and pastor
Pilgrimage will help you regain an interior life, heal your soul, and find your own path to the great healer, Jesus himself.
Fr. Roberto J. Cortes-Campos, pastor, St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, Hyattsville, MD
Poignant and redemptive, Donna’s story is a well-crafted reminder that God is intimately involved in even the worst parts of our lives. And God is more invested in our happy ending than we ever imagined.
Chad R. Allen, entrepreneur and consultant
Though my best friend in high school, Dr. Chacko, became a physician and I became a high school teacher, in this compelling telling of her journey, Dr. Chacko proves the ultimate teacher between the two of us.
Margo Lee Bellock, retired high school math teacher and principal
Dr. Chacko provides us with a compelling reason and roadmap to carry on.
Peggy Winton, CEO, Association for Intelligent Information Management
Donna Chacko’s courageous self-examination of her trials and triumphs is a prescription for finding a figurative lump in the heart and how to heal such a wound.
Chris Manion, award-winning author
I highly recommend this book to anybody who has felt hopeless and needs an identifiable and compassionate roadmap, along with good company, to a life with more freedom and more connection to Love, the Energetic Source behind all life, whom many call God.
Marilyn Williams, psychotherapist
The evolution of Donna’s story is honest and fair, and I think it will resonate with everyone who has ever been in a relationship, raised a family, or struggled with balancing family and career.
Caryn Tilton, consultant
What Readers Are Saying . . .
From Reader Views, 2022
“...raw honesty...”
“[Pilgrimage] provides ways...to find your center
after going through...major storms.”
“[A] great book for anyone going through a challenging marriage or the terminal illness of a loved one.”
“[For those] who love memoirs, health, and discovering spiritual healing.”
From Readers’ Favorite, 2022
“...an unmissable memoir.”
“… will give great consolation to readers
in difficult places in their own lives.”
“ I recommend this book highly to those
who seek a sense of solidarity as well
as guidance for their own troubles.”
Book Trailer
About the Author
Dr. Donna Chacko practiced radiation oncology and later family medicine. She and her first husband raised three daughters in Florida. After his death she moved to Washington, DC, where she cared for the poor until 2013. Now retired, Donna lives in Maryland with her second husband and works in the ministry she founded, Serenity and Health.