At age nine, Josh Sundquist was diagnosed with cancer, and by age 10, he'd lost his leg to the illness. But Sundquist never faltered in his dream to ski in the Paralympics, and in 2006 he achieved his goal in Turin, Italy. Just Don't Fall is the remarkable and honest story of Sundquist's determination and grit in the face of long odds and tough choices.
"Somehow, I ended up reading three books dealing with cancer all at the same time. It was a depressing time! This has been the least depressing of these books. The author, Josh Sundquist, was diagnosed with a form of cancer in his thigh when he was only a small child, which required the amputation of his leg to save his life. Through his family and his church, Josh had an amazing support system and managed to remain positive much longer than I think I could have. The boys at his church had a head shaving party when Josh began to lose his hair from chemotherapy, they allowed someone to run to first base for him (after he hit the ball, and then he would switch with the person and run the rest of the way around the bases) so that he could play softball with the other kids. He also had a family who was willing to explain to him what was going on every step of the way, unlike some of the other kids he met in the hospital (and one in particular who died without ever knowing that he had cancer, or what exactly was wrong with him -- who had a huge effect on Josh and the way he chose to live his life in the future).
Josh writes the book from his 9-year-old-self's perspective, which I think really added to the appeal. His voice and his childlike views shine through the narrative and I found myself smiling and laughing frequently despite the difficult times Josh and his family were going through. It's hard enough for an adult to go through an illness like cancer, but for a child who doesn't fully understand what is happening or what the consequences might be it is an entirely different ball game. On the one hand, it's a huge change in his life and the ramifications of the disease are both frustrating and scary. But on the other hand, a 9-year-old boy has no concept of "can't". They told him he wouldn't be able to run again, or to play sports, or do X, Y and Z, and he just didn't believe them. As he pointed out, they were wrong about a catheter not hurting, so they could be wrong about this, too. And he proved them wrong in most cases, and went on to live life to the fullest and do things that no one believed he would be able to do.
That's not to say there were never any bad times. Josh became angry and frustrated when people treated him like he was fragile due to his missing leg. And he wrestled with a serious bout of depression when he reached adulthood. In addition, Josh's illness took a serious toll on his younger brother, Matt, who even tries to hang himself from their bunk bed at one point, and Matt's behaviors caused guilty feelings in Josh -- a vicious cycle. At times I felt like Matt was the champion of this book! But both boys make good use of their support system and the positive aspects of their personalities and in the end it all works out. And then there is his mother's diagnosis and the toll that takes on their family -- when it rains, it pours.
I think the book really does say a lot about the difference a good support system and a positive attitude can make when you are faced with a tragedy. This story probably would have had a much different ending had these events happened in many other families. Josh's message about living life to the fullest is a great one, though the lesson he learned during his depression -- that you don't always have to be number 1 to be a success -- is the key to his happiness in the end.
One last note about the book. Josh grew up in a very conservative, very religious family. He was homeschooled for much of his childhood and when he finally went to public school he was amazed at the end of the first day because he wasn't offered drugs, wasn't asked to join a gang, didn't even see any guns let along get shot at like he expected ... His family had "sweet cereal day" one day a week. Friday was "candy day", on which they were allowed to eat a single piece of candy -- something that was so ingrained into him that even as an adult he felt a sort of guilty pleasure when he ate some candy on an airplane and it wasn't a Friday. He wasn't allowed to say "golly" or "gosh" or "darn" or "shucks" because they are euphemisms for swears and God knows what you really mean. Etc, etc, etc. Throughout the book, he seems to make fun of these restrictions, and I sort of thought that in the end he would have a vastly different view of religion as a whole. I thought the whole book was leading up to a lessening of his faith. But that doesn't happen -- if anything, it seems strengthened in the end. He does make a great point near the end of the book about how some people get so caught up in the rules of their religion (and he references truth telling in particular) that they forget the whole point: grace and love. What a wonderful lesson! I was just really surprised by the path his faith took because of the way he sort of poked fun of all the rules for most of the book.
Anyway -- this is a wonderfully inspiring, fun read despite the sometimes depressing topic. I highly recommend this to just about everyone."
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Deana (4 out of 5 stars)