This poignant and thoughtful memoir challenged as much as it compelled me. It’s hard to look death directly in the eye, especially when it’s encroaching, with terrifying intensity, on the time that is left for a shy and sensitive seventeen year-old.
Jody White, unexplainably and suddenly diagnosed with a rare and deadly form of leukemia is fighting a battle for his life - a metaphor that will come to mean more as you read this book and witness Jody’s remarkable story.
Without giving the plot away (no spoilers here), now an adult, as Jody revisits, in these pages, with blood-chilling detail, a year in his past which changed everything - it’s clear that this man not only has a story to tell, but oh, can he write.
Stylistically golden, it’s impossible not to be touched by the beautifully rendered images, emotions, and experiences flooding the pages - many of which are so raw and terrible you wonder how Jody survived them.
But survive he did, to tell his story - and as “the hurricane of his illness swept him up, up and away”, Jody opens his heart, bearing witness, with the bright and temperate eye of his now adult self, providing a decades-earned perspective on young Jody’s unformed, yet undeniably effective coping strategies, as they existed then, and what they have left him with now.
Facing his new world with science, research, facts, humor, and with the love and unconditional support of his family, his friends, and his lover, - young Jody fought his own Hero’s Journey, groping somewhat blindly with the determination to fight to live to see another day.
As adult Jody touches and breaks our heart, it’s clear that he’s accomplished much more here than telling his story - he is also inviting us to share in the many lessons his journey has left him with.
“Every moment now shall be a gift”.
This, the author’s beautifully rendered gift to the reader, is a life-altering story, if we take the time to listen.
Imagine being told at the age of 18, as life is taking off, you’re falling in love, discovering who you are, that you have a terminal illness and have two weeks to live. That’s what Jody White faced. However, he’s beaten the odds and is here to share his story. A funny, poignant, beautiful tale of resilience, warmth, adventure and hilarity.
This book was so perfect for me right now. I’m a single mum of 3 beautiful babies and the start of the year brought me face to face with an oncologist after discovering a lump. Thankfully I was given the all clear. However the fear I felt at not knowing what my future told reinforced to me that life is what you make of it and it’s something to be cherished.
I truly wish Jody a life full of love, laughter and so many more adventures. Thank you for helping us to understand the fragile thread of life is to be cherished and never taken for granted
Naturally, this was a difficult and heart-breaking read. I think that goes without saying.
The courage it must take to put yourself out there like Jody does in this book is remarkable, and I found myself feeling like I was having a deep conversation with him rather than reading his book. The experience was truly humbling.
Beautifully written as well as inspiring and personal, this book covered aspects of living with cancer, treatments, and cancer itself that were completely new to me, and I've never read anything so inspiring and honest.
Eye-opening, raw, and important, this is one I think everyone needs to read in their lifetime.
