Only Spring – On Mourning the Death of My Son

I wanted to let you know how touched I was when reading your book. I work in the Pediatrics ward at Via Christi St. Francis Hospital in Wichita. I see day to day families struggle with losing a child to cancer… Reading your book has made me realize just what parents go through…God bless you, Dr. Livingston and thanks again for sharing your story.

Your painful and poignant journal of your family’s enduring love for Lucas and illustration of his journey home has very simply changed the lives of a family who has made a generous donation to St. Jude’s in Lucas’s memory.

Thank you so much for your beautiful book…I think everybody should read it. After reading it people might find things they have never thought before, never seen before, never knew before.
I wonder, is it so that those children with cancer somehow have many more strengths and wisdom than people usually. They seem to have so much to give to other people as parents, nurses, doctors, friends. …I don’t have much faith, I am not wise, but I had my son. Ossi showed us all the time how life is worth living, every single day. He never complained, he never asked when he would be OK, he never envied others. I simply watched him and I knew that I could manage…I must carry on for Ossi and his memory, and for myself.
“Never a child more loved” is the most beautiful epitaph I have ever heard. And so true, I must say, after reading your book.