Sunday Book Review - Simon Fitzmaurice, 'It's not yet dark'

Good morning,

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching Ireland am and was introduced to Simon Fitzmaurice, his wife Ruth and the story of Simon's battle with motor neurone disease. I was immediately drawn in, not by the story of his life but how, as a family, they dealt with such a debilitating disease.

During the interview, Simon spoke about his new book 'It's not yet dark' and I knew I had to get my hands on a a copy. Lucky for me it was around the time of my birthday and my friend bought me a copy of it. I say, lucky because the book is priced at almost nineteen euro which I think is a little pricey.

With a new baby at home it took me a couple of weeks before I got the chance to pick it up. After seeing and hearing Simon being interviewed already, I think I had built up an idea in my mind of what the book was going to be like so I wanted to make sure I gave it the time and concentration it deserved.

The story . . . 

The author Simon Fitzmaurice was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2008. At the time he was given only 4 years to live. With a wife and young children at home, Simon fought the death sentence handed down to him and has defied medical opinion. In 2010, following a lung collapse, Simon chose 'life'. He chose to ventilate in order to stay alive. According to reports, home ventilation had only been successful twice before but that wasn't a statistic that would stop him from proceeding with his decision.

The book, written by Simon using an eye gaze computer looks back at the start of the disease, the early symptoms Simon experienced and in turn, how the disease progressed. In short, this is a book, based on love, human strength and the innate drive to stay alive.


Review . . .  3.5/5

Did I enjoy reading this book? ... No.
I didn't enjoy reading the book, not because it wasn't well written or have interesting content but because it scared me. It frighted me to the core. It's death and dying laid bare. I read this book while nursing my newborn and developed the most uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Of course, I live in the real world and know that we all die someday but on the day I picked up this book, I just didn't want to think about it. Sorry, Simon, no disrespect intended. In fact, I have the upmost respect for this family man that is fighting the fight of his life to stay with his family. How lucky they are that their husband and dad is not willing to give up on himself.

On a different day,
in a different frame of mind, this book but have had the opposite effect on me, An effect, I think it will have on you. It is the motivation we all need to wake up and grab life by the balls each and every day.

This is a quick read and will be done and dusted in under 2 hours.

Have you read this book? Let me know what you thought.

Kel x