Rev Kerry's Kind Words

This book is an excellent choice for anyone struggling with a serious illness, whether as a patient, carer or relative. Kim Walker tells the story of her son's cancer wisely and bravely. She describes how her Christian faith sustained her, whilst being honest about the big questions faith doesn't allow one to evade. We hear of those who died as well as those who recovered, the frustrations of hospital neglect and misdiagnosis, the times when family bonds shuddered under the strain. In this book cancer is not the enemy to be beaten but a reality to be lived with. Kim Walker does not speak of her son's eventual remission glibly or simplistically, but writes frankly of the difficulties of amputation, of emotional recovery, of the post-remission depression that followed his brave acceptance of his illness. It is a truthful account of devastation, hope and frustration. The days when things seem right and then go wrong again, the mornings when a parking difficulty or an unhelpful clinician can make the difference betweeh hope and despair. And, above all, it is a story of faith in a dark time, a reminder of how Christianity cannot take away suffering or pain but at the hardest times of one's life may make it easier to bear.