I almost passed up the chance to read this book but the name of the co-author caught my attention. Joel. I have a good friend whose son Joel has also battled cancer (though, my friend’s son is a lot younger and he had a different cancer) and I just felt drawn to the book.
I have to admit, it took me a few chapters before I got used to reading about a Joel who was different than the Joel I know (and love!)
Joel Soukup was diagnosed with bone cancer when he was 16 and quickly learned that he was going to lose his leg. Not just his leg, but part of his pelvis as well. A few years later, his cancer came back and he then had to have part of his spine removed.
Standing Tall on One Leg is told mostly from Joel’s mother’s perspective but there are snippets of journal entries written by Joel himself. Some of these were written as he was in the midst of his fight with bone cancer, some of them after.
I loved how the family’s faith shines through. They were able to look back in hindsight and see how God had protected their son before his diagnosis instead of becoming bitter.
Kathy shares how they are blessed by friends, family, doctors, and nurses throughout their journey.
There is also some good comic relief! Something about a very wet truck..and another with a garage fiasco..but I won’t go into more detail and ruin it for you!
Kathy doesn’t only share the good, easy to talk about stuff. She talks about the difficulties her family faced as well. She discusses how her other son who was living at home struggled when suddenly, the parents’ attention was focused majorly on Joel. She keeps it real (or at least, real as far as I can tell, having never been in this situation myself.)
I enjoyed this book. It was a fairly quick read but it is full of encouragement and faith, laughter and tears.

Disclaimer: I received a free Kindle version of this book to review from BookSneeze.com. I was not obligated to write a positive review.

Review By Ramblings Mom