Before I Go

Before I Go is heartbreaking. The kind of heartbreak that makes you feel like you’ve lost all control and can’t seem to get back the life and love you used to know. It is a heartbreak that leaves you wanting to cry on the bathroom floor because you saw all of the pain coming, but secretly hoped you were wrong. Before I Go is also a book of hope where you must choose to believe that life can’t really be all THAT bad.

This story by Colleen Oakley is one that I would highly suggest to others to read. Although it is not necessarily a realistic plot, it is not completely absurd or out of the question…

Daisy, a 27-year-old grad student, has just received news that will change everything in her life. Cancer…AGAIN! And this time, it will wipe her physical existence from this Earth. She is told that it is everywhere and there’s no chance of survival, only hopes of extending her life and keeping her comfortable.

Daisy can’t seem to grasp how this can happen to her again, especially since she is so close to becoming a therapist, and her husband is almost finished with veterinary school. Weren’t their lives about to truly start? Daisy ignores the facts for as long as she can before she starts to truly realize that she will be gone, and her husband, Jack, will be alone.

From there, Daisy sets out to find Jack a new wife. However, what she doesn’t expect is to find someone she approves of so quickly. She also doesn’t expect her husband to already know her candidate. And she definitely does not expect him to have somewhat of a secret relationship with this woman while she is still alive!

As Daisy fights for her life, she also fights to protect her marriage while still thinking about the future of her husband. The question though is, “Is it worth it?”