A Swift Current woman has seen her role as a contributing author help shed light on dealing with stress.

Kyla Thomson contributed a chapter for the book "Dear Stress, I'm Breaking Up With You", by Ky-Lee Hanson, which focuses on ending internal and external pressures associated with stress.

The first-time mother wrote the chapter based on her daughter Bella, who was born in December 2013 with Hirschsprung's disease - a blockage of the large intestine. Bella also suffers from Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), which is a rare genetic disorder.

The Swift Current-based family moved to Alberta so Bella could reside in the Alberta Children's Hospital, while doctors worked to alleviate her ailments. Needing to move away from family to receive care for their daughter took a toll on Kyla and her husband Lyle. Since Bella's birth in December 2013, she has only spent eight months outside of the hospital.

When it came to writing her thoughts down on paper, Kyla explains the stress of worrying and caring for their daughter definitely was difficult, but also helped create two key points for her to discuss in the contributed chapter.

"The points I found were 'Identify what others can do for me', and 'Find out what I can do for myself'. Part of what I talk about being able to do for myself is of course writing, and talking about how the strategies I came up with help remind myself this is how I'm going to manage the stress, and how I'm going to get rid of it in the best way I can," he said.

Kyla shares that the experience of getting to read her own work in a published book provided a lot of excitement, but she especially felt overwhelmed by the support and feedback she received.

"The best for me out of all of this was knowing my chapter had a purpose of helping other moms and dads who have been in similar situations as me," she said. "The parents who received the book this week and reached out to me were grateful that it provided a way to cope with the stress."

For anyone wishing to support Bella, Kyla invites them to message her about purchasing the book on her Facebook page, or by emailing her at kylact12@gmail.com.

She also mentions that regular updates are given on a Facebook page dedicated to Bella, and can be seen here. As Bella was recently rushed back to the Alberta Children's Hospital, Kyla says the usual blog on Bella has lacked updates as of late, but she says, before too long, more information on Bella's journey since birth will be updated.

Completing the full circle of the book experience, Thomson hopes to complete a book-signing back in her home city of Swift Current once her daughter's health improves enough for her to leave the province.