Kathleen A. Hessler is an attorney and registered nurse with expertise in healthcare ethics and compliance. Her combined professions spanned several decades. During her nursing career, she provided direct patient care, conducted research, and managed teams. As an attorney and consultant, she guided long-term care facilities and other healthcare organizations through complex regulatory challenges. Her expertise has earned her recognition as a speaker at national healthcare and legal conferences.
She is a strong advocate for ethical patient care and sound business practices, bringing her unique perspective to nonfiction writing, which is her new focus. She contributed chapters for the Solo Practice Guidebook by The American Association of Nurse Attorneys (2025) and “Health Care Law” to the 2020 and 2024 editions of Giddens’ Concepts for Nursing Practice. In addition to her professional writing, her award-winning nonfiction stories appear in SouthWest Writers anthologies.
When not at her computer, Kathleen enjoys reading, hiking scenic trails, playing golf, and traveling to new destinations with her husband. Kathleen Hessler worked as a registered nurse for over twelve years before launching her second career as an attorney, representing healthcare entities across the continuum of long-term care. She is transitioning to yet another career in writing.
In her first book, Promise Me, Daughter, Kathleen’s heartfelt journey takes readers through the depths of a daughter’s lifelong love for her mother and the challenges and sorrows of long-distance caregiving. Sharing the caregiving responsibilities with siblings, she demonstrates how the grief in families caring for a person with Alzheimer’s can take its toll while also strengthening bonds. 
This memoir chronicles my abiding love for my mother and the challenges I faced as a long-distance caregiver during her early-onset Alzheimer’s. My unique background—as both a nurse and an attorney representing long-term care entities—provided me with an invaluable, insider’s perspective on the operations and complexities of long-term care settings, as well as the compassionate care that is possible.
My hope in writing this book is to bring comfort and courage to those whose lives have changed because of a loved one’s illness. I weave together my life, my mother’s story, and the knowledge I gained while navigating her memory loss. I do not offer advice. Instead, I share educational narratives from real-life experiences to deepen understanding and foster connection. I introduce issues that families may encounter during illness. If you live with dementia, or are a caregiver, family member, or friend, may you find support and healing along your journey and in these pages.
Even in hardship, compassion and love can guide us.
* * * * *
Promise Me, Daughter
Book Reviews
“With kindness and compassion, Kathleen Hessler guides her readers through the complex maze of options that must be considered when caring for a loved one suffering from dementia. Both lawyer and nurse, Kathleen is uniquely qualified to explain the legal and health challenges involved in this daunting process. Her book brought tears to my eyes, but also warmed my heart and made me laugh out loud. Read it. You won’t be sorry.”
Judith Schiess Avila, co-author of the NYT bestseller: Code Talker: The first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII
*****
Kathleen Hessler takes her readers on the bumpy ride of caring for her mother. Many of her stories are humorous and others are poignant. I am glad I read Hessler’s memoir before I became tasked with caring for a relative with dementia.
Sherri Burr, author of over 30 books including Complicated Lives: Free Blacks in Virginia, 1619-1865
*****
For more information or to purchase Promise Me, Daughter, click here.