Tuesday, October 13, 2009

I Cried So Hard!

Last night I finished reading "WHAT WAS GOOD ABOUT TODAY?" by Carol Kruckeberg. It's a true story about her family's struggle to keep their little eight year old daughter with leukemia alive. What a story! What a family! What a legacy the little girl left, even though she didn't survive.

The family lived (perhaps still lives) here in Washington State. At the time they lived in Sequim, WA (pronounced skwim) and ferried across Puget Sound for Sara's medical interventions. I'm sure the story hit me especially hard because I have a cousin who lost a little son named Patrick to leukemia in the late 40's or early 50's; and then we lost Jennifer Cuellar to it just a couple years ago in her mid-20's; and then I've lost loved ones to other types of cancer (which you know about if you've read my first book about DeForest Kelley).

Perhaps I sobbed last night also because it gave me "permission" to grieve for my own losses. I was so busy "being strong" through my Mom's, De's and Dad's passing within a 14 month period (because someone was relying on me) that I never did get to "let it all hang out" when I should have. So this book really threw open the floodgates.

Kruckeberg is an exemplary writer. And it seems she learned to write so she would pen this story, after someone told her she should. So it's a double triumph for her: Her daughter's legacy lives on and she did a great job ensuring that it would.

It's a roller coaster ride. Be forewarned. But in the end, Sara's spirit triumphs.

It's a masterpiece.

I highly encourage you to read it. I got it used at Amazon. It's a treasure I will share with others.

On those days when I think "what else can go wrong?" I'll think of this book and count my uncountable blessings...

"I hope many people will read Carol Kruckeberg's story. I know they will be moved by it." Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, author of WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I know what it's like to lose somebody close to cancer. My Uncle Micheal (he was a family friend) died of it last April. If doctors could invent a cure for cancer, I'd bring back him and De.