Ambassador International New Published Title Mummy’s Not Sick Anymore
Mummy’s Not Sick Anymore It is almost 20 years since Noel Davidson, a retired headmaster from Larne, had his first book published. Called ‘My Father’s Hand,’ it told the story of Heather, a young mother, whose strong Christian faith helped sustain her in her struggle with leukaemia. In the intervening years he has written another 26 books, mainly Christian biographies. These have seen him travel to destinations as far apart as America and Australia, Poland and Nigeria, as well as all the countries of Britain and Ireland to research and write stories. His latest book, ‘Mummy’s Not Sick Anymore,’ has taken him back to his original theme, a Christian mother’s unshakeable faith in the face of one of the most dreaded of all trials, terminal illness. The book begins when a young couple meet, fall in love and marry. They start a family, having two lovely little sons, Mark and Euan. Paul and Alison (Ali) Watson were very happy with life at home at work and in church. All seemed to be set for a long life of shared love and joy. That’s not how it was to turn out, though. They were less than five years into married life when Ali’s mum was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. Six months later Ali was to learn that she had it too. She had treatment, thought she was cured and the family went on holiday. It was a blissful time. The load had been lifted. The sky was clear. The future looked bright… Then the cancer came back, more aggressively than before. Everything medically possible was done for Ali. Her family and friends supported her practically and prayed for her passionately. Yet still her condition continued to deteriorate. Struggling to cope with the complexities of her situation she began keeping a personal journal. This allowed her to pour out her heart on to paper. The physical permanence of awful pain… The emotional turmoil of not having the chance to be the wife and mother she had once imagined she would love to be… The spiritual battle of just trying to make sense of it all… The mental wrestling with God and the ultimate submission to His will for her life. And her Christian faith is evident throughout. Even in desperately difficult ‘down’ days when all she was able to do was write the Bible verse that had been her comfort and consolation. When facing the ultimate challenge of ‘Who knows how long I have got?’ Ali turned to her divine guide for the answer, concluding, ‘Only God. And He isn’t letting me know!’ This is a gripping story from start to finish. It includes interesting details of world travel, amusing incidents from family life and a gradual, painful ‘coming to terms’ with a devastating realisation for a young couple. Yet from Paul and Ali – just two- through to Paul Ali, Mark and Euan – all four – and back again to Team Watson – only three – this is a tremendous record of an underlying faith in God. Noel Davidson confesses to having had his reservations when first approached, just over two years ago, about the possibility of turning Ali’s diary into a book. He felt inadequate for the task. “What experience have I of spiritual struggle or cancer care?” was his initial reaction. That situation was soon set to be remedied, however, when in March 2009, he was diagnosed with cancer himself. Not having had any discernable symptoms this came as a total shock and caused him to think that perhaps his writing career was at an end. He had major surgery three months later and after a difficult period of depressing complications he began to recover and is now thankful to be in ‘long term remission.’ It was only after having experienced, albeit at a merely peripheral level, the trauma of some of the treatment Ali was called upon to endure, in the Hospital where she was treated, that he felt qualified to untie the maroon ribbons on her journal, easily identify with the contrasting mind-sets of anguish and acceptance and translate it all into a book which ‘is hard to leave down.’ Noel found it an uplifting experience to work with Paul Watson on this project. The author was carried along on the wave of the young widower’s enthusiasm and the book they have produced has something for everybody but should prove particularly inspiring and indeed challenging to those, and the families of those, who are seriously ill. On the back cover of ‘Mummy’s Not Sick Anymore’ it is claimed that this book will ‘strengthen the faint-hearted, melt the soft-hearted and move even the hard-hearted.’ As far as we can understand from those who have already read it this is exactly what has been happening. It has been doing at least one of these things to everyone and as a sideline has proved beneficial to the sales of paper hankies. ‘Mummy’s Not Sick Anymore’ is published by Ambassador International. (£7.99 paperback)