My Son, My Sorrow - Hardcover

Loving, Carol

3.77

13 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 088282161X ISBN 13: 9780882821610

Publisher: New Horizon Press, 1998

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Carol Loving's son Nick went from athletic and high-spirited to debilitated and depressed within two years of being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease. Unable to walk, feed himself or speak clearly, Nick begged his mother to help him die. Reaching the most heart-wrenching decision of her life, Carol turned to Dr. Jack Kevorkian for help. My Son, My Sorrow is an eloquent contribution to the debate over "the right to die, " which only someone who has lived through the experience with a loved one can provide.

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From the Back Cover:

This contribution to the debate over euthanasia is one which only a person who has lived through the experience with a loved one can provide. It drives home the hotly-contested question of whether we have the right to end life in the wake of intense suffering. When Carol Loving's talented, athletic, college student son Nicholas disclosed late one night that he was having difficulty grasping a football, uttering certain sounds, and moving his body, and feared he's becoming paralyzed, she rushed him to a hospital. After a myriad of tests, he was diagnosed with a fatal degenerative illness - Lou Gehrig's disease. Carol devoted herself to caring for Nick. Mother and son fought the debilitating effects, gallantly. However, within eighteen months, Nick was unable to walk, feed himself or speak clearly. Moreover, they knew the worst was yet to come. After failing at suicide three times, Nick pleaded with his mother to help him die. Reaching the most heart-wrenching decision she would ever have to make, Carol agreed. Frantically searching for the means, Carol canvassed friends, pigeonholed medical and government personnel and scoured the streets. No one would help end her son's agony. Finally, Carol contacted their last hope, the renowned advocate of assisted suicide, Dr. Death - Dr. Jack Kevorkian, begging for his deliverance. From Carol Loving's unique vantage point, as the public controversy rages, we meet and get to know the private man never revealed by the media barrage surrounding him. We learn why he believes aiding the dying is his mission.

From Publishers Weekly:

Deserted by her husband early on, Loving raised her five children in desperate poverty, continually struggling to better herself through education and work. In a family that seemed destined from the start for recurrent misfortune and misery, the news that a robust, athletic young family member was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease hit hard. In his mid-20s, one of Loving's twin boys, Nick, was considering a stint in the military to pay for his college education. Instead, what followed his diagnosis were two years of agonizing physical deterioration and its accompanying emotional toll on him, his mother (and main caretaker) and the entire family. Nick unsuccessfully attempted suicide three times, "in searing rage against the disease that forced him to suffer, yet refused to let him die." A call for the legalization of merciful euthanasia, this book also provides a disturbing look at the "cold" and "condescending" medical profession and at the government of a society that "is not mature enough to accept death as a natural part of life in the given order." The peaceful passing Nick finally achieved with the help of the notorious Dr. Jack Kevorkian contrasts dramatically with the two years of torture and insensitivity this young man and his family endured. This book adds an important voice to the debate on euthanasia. Author radio tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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