Falling by Elisha Cooper (A Review by Jennifer Holmes)

Rating: 5/5

What a beautiful story written by a dad who shares his family’s triumph over cancer! While  enjoying a baseball game,  Elisha discovers a lump in his daughter’s abdomen and, while he’s not too concerned at the time, he decides it’s best to have her seen by the pediatrician. This starts a serious of events that will forever change their lives.

After many appointments and surgery, Elisha and his wife, Elise, find out their daughter has a pediatric kidney cancer called Wilms’ tumor. The family is scheduled to move from Chicago to New York for Elise’s job, but have to put the move on hold so Zoe can have the tumor removed. After surgery Zoe starts radiation and chemotherapy so they can make sure all the cancer is  gone. The family moves and settles in start their new routine of balancing school, jobs, and regular hospital visits for treatment.

When any illness or disease strikes a family, it will either bring them together or tear them apart, and Elisha does his best to keep everything in their lives as normal as possible. He wants Zoe and her sister Mia to live life just like everyone else: enjoy climbing trees, traveling, getting dirty, and spending time with friends; not living in fear of what could happen. Thankfully Zoe was able to beat her cancer and what a special book this will be for her to read when she’s older.

As a cancer survivor myself, I really related to this book. You go through so many ups and downs emotionally, but in the end I wouldn’t change anything because cancer really opens your eyes to how lucky we are to have our health and  to live everyday to its fullest.

Review by Jennifer Holmes