Dying to Live Your Life

In Dying to Live Your Life, Lisabeth Mackall documents her battle with stage IV breast cancer. At the time she was diagnosed, her family had already been through one life-threatening trauma. Her husband had been involved in a car accident, leaving him with severe brain injuries, from which he luckily recovered. She writes about the difficulty of sharing the news of her illness with her children after they had been so affected by their father’s accident and how she hoped to stay strong for them.

The beginning of her journey with cancer was familiar to me since my mother passed away a year and half ago from another form of cancer. Reading Lisabeth’s account brought back a lot of memories for me. I liked that she focused on positive thinking and how that can help one overcome difficult times. I’m sure anyone going through a medical struggle, be it cancer or some other illness, will benefit from Lisabeth’s words and her journey to live life without letting her illness take control of her life and her spirit.

It is hard to imagine that one can go through the hardships of not just cancer, but all the unforeseen side effects, of which Lisabeth had many, and still stay strong. As if breast cancer weren’t enough, she was faced with a bowel perforation and reconstructive surgeries, which all had their complications. But she managed to come out of these life-threatening situations and experiences with the positive attitude that she always tried to maintain at the beginning of her journey.

Throughout the book, Lisabeth mentions how she became aware of the need to be grateful and happy for the small things in life and to live in the moment, rather than worry about the future. I have been trying to put this into practice in my own life recently, so I was happy that I was drawn to this work, which made me believe even more strongly in the importance of the here and now. Perhaps the thing that will stick with me the most from this book is Lisabeth’s advice to allow one’s inner voice be your biggest fan and supporter. This is something most of us could probably benefit from in our daily lives and struggles.

I hope this story of overcoming illness and personal difficulties reaches those who need encouragement, and I hope Lisabeth continues to use her talent for writing and expressing herself to help others. Overall, I felt this was an honest, heartfelt, and well-written book.