Customer Reviews

Blue Sky July: A Mother's Story of Hope and Healing

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Joe appeared perfectly normal at birth...or so the Apgar scores indicated. But within two hours of his birth, Joe is whisked away to the newborn intensive care unit in grave danger. He is thoroughly tested and found to have severe cerebral palsy. The specialist gives Nia and Alex, Joe's parents, little if any encouragement. The experts all seem to agree that Joe will be blind and unable to speak, move or even recognize his mom and dad.

Nia and Alex are devastated but unwilling to accept the life sentence the doctors have given their infant son. Their lives are filled with a seemingly endless round of visits to specialists, therapists and healers. Nia is even more adamant than Alex; she simply refuses to accept the prognosis so often repeated to her. The doctors suggest she is in denial, but there is absolutely no denying that Nia will do whatever she possibly can to see that Joe has a life worth living.

Light therapy, oxygen therapy, patterning, tapping, music therapy, sensory therapy, Reiki, crystals, Chinese herbs --- Nia tries them all. In fact, it seems there is nothing she won't try. The baby book, purchased in happier, more hopeful times, remains empty the first year. There are no milestones to record.

Nia reduces Joe's drugs for epilepsy, against the advice and orders of the neurologist. Later, when the neurologist mentions that there are no traces of epilepsy on Joe's latest examinations, he still won't admit there is no need for those drugs at all.

A milestone, so long hoped for, finally occurs. Movement! Joe reaches out, actually moving the muscles in his left arm for the first time. Nia and Alex, however, are drifting apart. Though their goals are similar --- giving Joe as normal a life as possible --- their lives are going in opposite directions. Alex has a job to occupy much of his time, and Nia is so focused on Joe that there is practically no time or energy for anything else.

One day, when Joe is two years old, he raises his arms --- both stiffly and not at the same time, but he does reach them around Nia's neck to hug her. This is major progress. Not only is he beginning to move his limbs, he can now express emotion. Joe learns to tap --- once for yes, twice for no. At last, some real communication. Alex feels that Nia has no time for him, and he moves out, but continues to visit three times a day to assist with Joe's patterning exercises and to play with him.

Joe's progress is agonizingly slow, but Nia has wonderful support from family and friends. And now she has a helper --- a respite worker named Sian, who brings joy and hope each time she visits.

Shortly after his third birthday Joe rolls over for the first time. With every painstakingly slow bit of progress that he makes, Nia is more hopeful and determined than ever that her son will continue to improve. Another eye specialist diagnoses cataracts, so Joe has surgery and is fitted with glasses. Now there is real hope for his sight. His first word is "more," and he is happy when he hears music. The little victories and milestones begin to accumulate; Nia's hopes are not in vain.

BLUE SKY JULY is a testament to the unconditional love, hopes and dreams that every mother has for her child. Nia has courage, patience, determination and the ability to continue moving forward even when the experts are telling her it is hopeless. Beautifully written, the book is by turns heartbreaking and hopeful. It is the amazing true story of a young mother who will do anything within her ability to give her son the full and happy life that is every child's birthright.

--- Reviewed by Carole Turner

It was such serendipity to find this amazing book. For me, finding it, reading it was a long over due affirmation, one 4 years in the making as my own precious son has very mild CP. My son is my miracle baby, and like Joe he is doing just great, but 4 yrs ago from the moment he took his first breath it was like I landed upon another planet. There were no other mothers and babies like us, no "mommies" play groups for us, just endless therapies, pity and patronizing comments - that was our world. I was terrified, but somehow I never gave up hope, and rightfully so. Reading this amazing and lovely book was like going back and watching myself - understanding and feeling everything - finally the affirmation, the connection I needed so much back then. Thank you for writing this beautiful and powerful book. Every parent, whether your child has CP or not, would find this book inspirational and uplifting.

BSJ is a collection of 1000 fragmented thoughts from the mother of a severely disabled boy. It's effective at its goal of giving the reader insight into the writer's (mother's) emotions. That said, it took some perseverance to plow through it, because of the lack of continuity and plot. The writer makes no pretense to present either. Most pages have one or two profound thoughts that touched me deeply, but I had to force myself to pay attention to pull them from the clutter.

Had it been about something else, I might have given up, but how could I give up on a mother who exhibits so much strength? Five stars for the human being, five stars for the emotion and openness of the writier, three for artistic expression. The American judge gives her a four.

I was nervous of reading this book because of the subject matter. I didn't want to read a book about hardship, pain and the agony of having a child with CP. But I did read it, and I did love it. Nia Wyn has a rare gift with words and instead of finding the book gloomy and depressing, I found it lyrical, uplifting and full of hope.

I would urge anyone who thinks this is NOT their kind of read to give it a chance. I found it truly inspiring.

I love this book. I would recommend it to anyone, whether they have a special needs child or not. It is a fast easy read too.

I deeply felt the heartbreak, loneliness, hopes and triumphs of this mother and son as the evocative prose transported me into their world. We all expect our lives will follow a natural progression - love - marriage - healthy children - and that problems like CP happen to other people . Nia and Alex found themselves suddenly living another life when their beautiful baby was born with a severe form of the disease. Through the sheer power of her love (and her husband's love) she and little Joe perservered against great odds and the naysaying of the medical profession to achieve milestones that for him required herculean efforts for the simplest task. My heart ached with hers as she wants to shield and protect him from a world where vulnerable kids like him often end up shoved aside or as targets of cruelty. My heart felt joy when they celebrated his achievements together and when Joe laughed and played and sang with other kids. The book reaffirmed for me that the bond of mother and child is one of greatest forces in life. I read this book in a few hours and could not get it out of my head afterwards. I hope it brings hope to other mothers, fathers and children who are struggling to have a "normal" life in a world that is not designed for them. I hope it gives understanding to people like me who have not shared their struggles.

I agree with other reviewers she does write like prose poetry. I really like her writing style. I had read about half of it when I needed to put it down for a while--taking care of my own family, working etc. When I picked it up this afternoon I found myself almost done reading it. Shortly after supper tonight I picked up and finished it!

It brought a lot of love and insight to a very tough situation. As a mother of a child with special needs, this book is written very well. The author takes you on a journey as the title says, A mother's story of hope and healing.

Thank you to Nia Wyn for her lovely book.

This story grabs you from the first stanza. Even if you don't normally read stories of this nature, her prose is so like poetry when she so succinctly describes her pain and struggles with the most beautiful turns of phrases. Not to say it's an easy read because of the subject matter. A very inspirational and very beautiful story indeed.

I picked this book up off the shelf expecting to just peruse it for a few minutes. Two hours later I got up off the floor after finishing, and headed for the cash register.

Others have summarized it better than I, but I just have to say two things. First, because it is her diary and written when she was actually going through it all, everything has this raw, unfiltered edge to it. If she had written the whole journey looking back at it, I don't think it would have been nearly as powerful. As it is written however the impact is huge.
Which brings me to my second observation, sometimes she switches into snatches of poetry. It's like her brain just couldn't handle the starkness of prose a second longer and suddenly it had to switch to poetry for a few seconds just to handle the magnanimity of the situation.

It is both heartbreaking and uplifting. I laughed. I cried. It was brilliant.