Compassion, Spring 2023

Spring 2023 - Compassion | tcf.org.uk 6 books to help you too. Many of them are biographies like ‘Hannah's Gift’ by Maria Housdan, which tells us about the lasting joy and love which Hannah, a little girl who insisted on wearing her favourite red shoes to the operating theatre, brought to her family in the three short years of her life. Another inspiring story is Sarah Pullen's ‘A Mighty Boy’ which is an account of Sarah's son Silas's illness and death and of her own grief. I think the really good thing about this book is that it shows that Silas was a boy who lived and not just a boy who died. As his mother says it was all about "wrapping a small boy in love, but still letting him get grubby knees". The same determination to live, despite a diagnosis of terminal cancer, comes through in ‘A Life Turned Upside Down’ by Nikki Hastings, which is unusual for our library because it was written by the the person who had received that diagnosis. Nikki, whose mum is now a member of TCF, writes very openly about her hopes and fears and her ups and downs and what I take from her book is the sense of her wonderful personality and her determination to make the best of her life for herself and for her two beautiful daughters. She was also very much a girl who lived and continues to live for us when we lose ourselves in her words and her world. Of course cancer isn't the only long term illness and in ‘One Strong Girl’ by Leslie Buxton we have a mother's account of the genetic fault which caused her daughter India's deterioration and eventual death. When she was ten years old India was able to 'climb the highest ropes in gymnastics' and by the time she was sixteen she was too weak to even dress herself. India was an only child and her mother writes about her intense grief but also about the joy to be found amidst the sorrow. Another long term, and truly horrible disease is new variant CJD which was linked to BSE in cattle. I clearly remember the government's assurance that there was no risk of humans being affected by this disease and our mounting horror when it became all too obvious they were wrong. Christine Lord's son, Andrew, was one of the people who died from CJD and in ‘Who Killed my Son’ she explores the mistakes and negligence that caused Andrew's illness. She writes about the campaign, which she and other relatives started to find answers and also tells us about Andrew, the sort of boy he was and about his life as well as his illness and death. This is not an easy read but it's well written and may be of interest to anyone who feels their child was let down by bad decisions from people in authority who are supposed to keep us safe. The last book I want to mention is one that was given to me for my birthday;