cover image My Son, My Sorrow

My Son, My Sorrow

Carol Loving. New Horizon, $22.95 (200pp) ISBN 978-0-88282-161-0

Deserted by her husband early on, Loving raised her five children in desperate poverty, continually struggling to better herself through education and work. In a family that seemed destined from the start for recurrent misfortune and misery, the news that a robust, athletic young family member was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease hit hard. In his mid-20s, one of Loving's twin boys, Nick, was considering a stint in the military to pay for his college education. Instead, what followed his diagnosis were two years of agonizing physical deterioration and its accompanying emotional toll on him, his mother (and main caretaker) and the entire family. Nick unsuccessfully attempted suicide three times, ""in searing rage against the disease that forced him to suffer, yet refused to let him die."" A call for the legalization of merciful euthanasia, this book also provides a disturbing look at the ""cold"" and ""condescending"" medical profession and at the government of a society that ""is not mature enough to accept death as a natural part of life in the given order."" The peaceful passing Nick finally achieved with the help of the notorious Dr. Jack Kevorkian contrasts dramatically with the two years of torture and insensitivity this young man and his family endured. This book adds an important voice to the debate on euthanasia. Author radio tour. (May)