Deflection

If you are looking for a book to read this summer, Christian, or not, I would recommend Grasping Joy, by Heidi J. Becker. The book is a griping story about her families finding that their son two-year-old has cancer and dies just before a year after the diagnosis.

I have known Heidi since she was a toddler. Her dad and I are close friends and colleagues since that time period. We can spend hours taking about family, politics, and civil engineering, and probably boring everyone with our intense discussions.

Heidi felt out pours her heart out in this book, by writing in depth about each medical procedure, the difficult decisions that had go be made, how her relationship with her husband was drawn closer, how there daughter, two year older than their son, was never overshadowed by the required care needed for their son, the hopes that they had that their son would be cured, and the feelings when the cancer treatments were not stopping the growth of the cancer.

She makes powerful comments about reaching the end of their rope time and time again, and she goes on about their beliefs in God, how God is with them, the comfort that they find in God. She comments on the families feelings with God when they find out that their son will die of the cancer. And, she explains how her and her husband felt walking out of the hospital without their son that had just died of cancer. However, above all, she explains how they find comfort with God.

She continually writes about the joy that everyone had that meet Draw. Although she writes about how easy it would be for grief to overtake the negative news coming from the medial staff about the growth of the cancer, she writes about how she had to pull herself together time and time again to be there for Draw in his concision. Draw brought joy to everyone’s hearts.

Draw was an enjoy able little guy that everyone feels in love with through his cancer. As for a two-year-old, she writes about his sharp wit. After the decision was made to stop treatment with the cancer continuing to grow. she writes about the joy of not having him endure the pain of the treatments, and continue with a normal life. With Draw being so energetic and full of life, she writes about the fact that his life is about over and life without him. Although it is sad for him to be called to heaven, the that he brought everyone lingers on into the future.

I find myself learning from what Heidi has wrote, since we all find ourselves at the end of our ropes and have to cope with the issues ahead of us. Her coping skills, and her relationship with God, is something that we can all learn from in our day to day life.

For someone that I have known so closely through the years, I find it a joy to read her book, especially on how professionally she wrote the book. She has taken the time to grow from a toddler to a professional write, just like the men in her life. That does include her husband and brother that are, also, engineers.

The book can easily be found on Amazon. Regarding the deep feelings that Heidi puts in to this book, it is a book that should not be over looked.