Author donates to families affected by illness

Angela Townsend’s young son, Levi, was going blind.

Retinoblastoma, a retinal cancer found most often in children, had been diagnosed in both of the boy’s eyes. Seeking the best possible care, mother and son trekked across the country in search of treatment before eventually settling on the renowned Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.

At first the pair stayed in hotels, but as the growing costs of travel and treatment piled up they sought out more affordable housing options. What they found was the Chestnut Street Ronald McDonald House, a converted mansion less than a mile from the hospital. Through their repeated weekend stays — the pair traveled back-and-forth from Montana for weeks — Townsend gained a special appreciation for the sprawling facility and the clean, safe, affordable space it provided during a chaotic time.

More than a decade later, even after Levi lost his sight and Townsend went from working as a paralegal to becoming a published novelist, the Kalispell author’s gratitude toward the house, its mission and its staff never waned.

So when Townsend bought out the publisher of the first two books in her “Angus MacBain” series, Clean Teen Publishing, last month, she also bought the company’s remaining supply of her works and started mailing them east.

Townsend estimates she’s sent hundreds of copies to the Chestnut Street location and another Ronald McDonald House in Camden, New Jersey. She plans on sending an additional box of books in January.

“There’s something healing about having a book in your hand,” she said.

The books have also made their way to those not affiliated with Ronald McDonald houses. Townsend says she’s sent signed copies as far away as China, Malaysia and Romania.

“Retinoblastoma is such a rarity so there are support groups,” Townsend said. “They come to me and say ‘your son survived, is there hope for my child?’

“They read about it and they feel really encouraged, and that’s when I thought maybe I could do a little bit more.”

Having experienced the disease so personally, Townsend understood the impact not only on the patients but also on their families. She recently sent a copy of the first book in the series to a young boy in Michigan whose younger sister has been diagnosed with retinoblastoma.

“I remember my oldest son,” Townsend said. “It’s so hard on siblings. They have to travel and sit in the hospital right along with a brother or sister.”

The third book in the Angus MacBain series, “Angus MacBain and the Academy of the Arcane,” is scheduled to be released this winter by Spinning Broom Books, a publishing company Townsend owns.

Townsend and her former boss, retired lawyer Dale McGarvey, now operate McGarvey and Townsend, Inc. in Kalispell and have shifted their main focus to movie production. They plan on turning the Angus MacBain books into movies in the near future and have already made one film based on a Townsend book, “The Forlorned,” in 2015.

For more information on Townsend and her books, visit www.angusmacbain.com.

Entertainment editor Andy Viano can be reached at 758-4439 or ThisWeek@dailyinterlake.com.