In Days Like These,
Kristian and Rachel Anderson has written this book to display that even when
the circumstances of life throw us off course and we can’t see the light from
the darkness that surrounds us, God is still there in the mist of the storms.
The book began as blog posts from Kristian’s website until it grew to a fan
base of billions of users reading about his journey and challenges. Later his
wife decided to turn the blog post into a book where he could leave behind a
legacy to his two young boys. Kristian married Rachel and they had two boys
under the age of three and they lived in Australia. At the age of thirty-four,
Kristian Anderson started to get a little stich in his side and he noticed that
he had a little blood in his bowel movements. He eventually went to the doctor
and they discovered that he had a blood clot on his lungs. But it turned out
that the used a voice recognition software to file the reports and it misheard
the doctor said no blood clot present. The doctors did notice that he had something
on the bottom of his lung and they ran more tests and found out that he had
cancer. The cancer was located in his bowel and it was wrapped around 75
percent of his colon and it already was spreading to the liver. When he found
out he had cancer, they had to make a decision together. Rachel desperately
wanted to have four children and the chemo had a risk factor of damaging his
sperm and they might not be able to swim. He went to the In Vitro
Fertilization to save some healthy samples. Kristian underwent chemo and many
different medicines to try and kill the cancer cells. He shared all of the
details and his emotions throughout the book in his brave battle for his life. At
the end of each chapter, Rachel also expressed her thoughts and concerns about
the battle against cancer alongside her husband. Unfortunately, Kristian lost
his battle with cancer on January 2, 2012.
Kristian also made a very personal memorable birthday
video for Rachel’s birthday. He was holding up signs with his two young boys to
show his wife how much he truly loved her. He also got Huge Jackman to appear
in the YouTube video. The video finally went viral and was seen all over the
world and it even reached the eyes of Oprah Winfrey. This video is one that
will have you in tears! Oprah also had Kristian and Rachel appear on her show
when she was in Australia and Microsoft donated an enormous amount of money to
assist them with their medical bills.
One of the private stories that he conversed was
about a conversation he had with his youngest son, Jakob while putting him to
bed. Kristian told him that he would always love him and would be in his heart
forever, no matter what occurs. He kept reinforcing to his son that he would
live in his heart and he was explaining that sometimes when you’re very sick
you have to go away and you can’t return. His oldest son, Cody overheard the
conversation and screamed with tears running down his creeks and declared, “YOU
CAN’T LEAVE! Why are you going, and why can’t you come back? There’s only one
daddy for a family, and you’re our daddy…and… and… you can’t go!” (Page 182). This
like any parent caused Kristian to break down and cry. This was the most exquisite
piece of the book that touched me emotionally. I can’t even began to imagine
having to say goodbye to your spouse or children.
I would recommend this marvelous book to anyone who
is looking for some hope in their life and it is a great book for someone
battling cancer. This is the first book that I have read that I will admit to
having cried and have gotten teary eyed while reading it. It was a
heartbreaking book to read about Kristian’s journey through having cancer and
he still managed to trust God. I immensely appreciated how he revealed the
details of his roller-coaster ride of getting a little better to getting worst
to getting better, and so on. I haven’t had cancer but I lost an aunt to cancer
and a few other people that I know to the horrible disease. I specially loved
the numerous scripture verses Kristian included and the positive confidence that
Christ wouldn’t fail him or his family.
I love how transparent Kristian was and he shared his
feelings about the pain of having to battle cancer. He was very expressive and
he described the terrible symptoms he dealt with each and every day. Kristian’s
love story about loving his wife and sons was evident throughout the book, and
it made me want to be the kind of brave and courageous man, husband, and father
that he was. I’m not even married yet and I don’t have kids yet but it
presented me with an example of an extraordinary man to look up to. In reading
his book, I felt the love he had for his beautiful wife and his handsome two
boys and he tried to cherish them with each passing moment. I liked how Rachel
was candid about how she felt when she saw the person that she loved struggling
and in extreme agony. She was very genuine about describing her dreams to have
more children and how she begged him to try to get her pregnant before he
underwent chemo. He refused to try because he feared if something happened to
him he didn’t want her to have to take care of three children alone. I liked
how the book showed how it affected her through his sickness and that she had a
difficult time too. If you’re looking for an inspiration book that will give
you hope even when we don’t understand, why pain and sickness must exist, then
this book will impact you and point you to the light and hope of Jesus Christ!
"I received this book free from the publisher through
the Book Sneeze/ Zondervan book review bloggers program.”
If you would
like to purchase a copy of Days Like
These, check it out on Amazon.com:
http://vimeo.com/14325334
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