I Remember Running: The Year I Got Everything I Ever Wanted-and ALS - Hardcover

Wakefield, Darcy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569243530 ISBN 13: 9781569243534

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2005

Synopsis

A little over a year ago, Darcy Wakefield was a single, 33-year-old athletic, workaholic English professor, a vegetarian who had never had a serious health problem or injury. Then she was diagnosed with ALS, and her world turned upside down. I Remember Running is Darcy's story of change and loss and challenges during her first year with ALS, as she struggles to make sense of her diagnosis and redefine herself in the face of this terminal illness. With unflagging courage, wit, and eloquence, Darcy shares what she calls her "fast-forward" life, a life in which she applies for disability, leaves her job, and plans her own funeral as well as meets and moves in with her true love, buys a house, and gives birth to her first child in less time than it takes most of us to accomplish even one of these things. Beautifully written and wholly inspiring, I Remember Running proves that it is possible to live a rich, meaningful life after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, and will move readers to see the world in a different light.

About this title

About the Author

Darcy Wakefield, formerly an English professor at Southern Maine Community College, recieved an MFA in writing from Emerson College as well as an MA in American Studies from SUNY/Buffalo and a BA from Smith. Diagnosed with ALS in 2003, Wakefield lives with her true love, Dr. Steve Stout, and their baby Sam, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Reviews

In October 2003, at age 33, Wakefield was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the incurable, progressive neuromuscular degeneration also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. But the author prefers to call it the Darcy Wakefield Anti-Disease, or DWAD. That's because she sees herself primarily as a Maine community college English professor, not a patient, and this renaming of her condition is one of many attempts to own the disease before it owns her. This chronicle of her life from February 2003 through December 2004 is a spirited look at what a difficult terminal illness can and cannot take away from a person. When it comes to the ability to run, to walk, to write, to hold a child and to speak, ALS prevails. Yet Wakefield wins in regard to loving and being loved, having a child and making a home. Her prose is informal and conspiratorial, inviting readers to share her triumphs, her fears and her frustrations. As time and the disease progress, Wakefield, living what she calls "a fast-forward life," seems wiser, braver and more alive than ever. This meditative diary of living with disease just may make readers feel all that, and grateful, too.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1569243530
• ISBN 13: 9781569243534
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 177