His Brother's Keeper - Jonathan Weiner

His Brother's Keeper
Author: Jonathan Weiner
Non-Fiction

A story of trials, tribulations, setbacks, and so much promise. His Brother’s Keeper takes you through the story of the Heywood family – in particular Stephen and Jamie Heywood – as one brother fights to save the others life. In his late 20's Stephen Heywood is diagnosed with ALS also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Jamie, his brother/engineer must race against the clock to find a cure or some hope to prolong his brother’s life.

ALS falls into the family of diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. I never knew much about any of these diseases besides what you hear in the news. When you read this book you’ll learn more about neurodegenerative diseases than you probably ever wanted to. Not because it’s boring but because the facts and statistics are very scary – those diagnosed with ALS have anywhere from 1-5 years to live depending upon the severity of the disease. In the case of ALS – the nerves within the spine die and the brain no longer sends signals to the rest of the body. Slowly your body starts to shut down, muscles deteriorate, and you become a prisoner within yourself. Simple tasks such as: swallowing, talking, and breathing become a problem but mentally you are strong and aware of everything going on. Think Stephen Hawking….

Besides learning about ALS, you are introduced to gene therapy, stem cell research and all those other “hot” topics that are widely debated between scientists, the government, and church.

Mixed in with the science and Heywood story is the author’s personal struggle with a neurodegenerative disease. His mother, in her 70’s suffers from LBD (Lewy Body Dementia).

So what do I think?

Should you read the book – I can’t say. It was heavy…it’s a great story, but it’s definitely not for everyone. I’ve read tons of sad books that leave me weeping and heavy hearted. Maybe this was different because it’s a true story and because I didn’t know ALS was such a death sentence. I read and read wondering will Jamie be able to save Stephen…and the entire time you wonder – how does Stephen feel. Most of the story is about what Jamie wants for Stephen and Stephen goes along with it because he loves his brother and of course wants to live, but it’s a lot to deal with. Then, slowly his body starts to betray him. So it's an interesting book - I'm not sure you get out of the ending what you hoped for...at least I didn't.