Pattie Welek Hall

Pattie has faced a parent’s worst nightmare, twice, with such grace and courage that I found myself pondering how I, a mother, could ever face the same challenge. I was hooked into her story from the first page and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough until the end.

The story opens with a phone call every mother dreads—news of her son’s traumatic brain injury from a motorcycle accident. Though the doctors tell her the probability that he will survive twenty-four hours is slim, she refuses to give up hope, weaving in her eclectic faith which ranges from Catholicism to New Age practices. It is in this emotional, spiritual journey that we see her unstoppable love, courage, resilience and hope. When tragedy strikes again with another child, she shows her remarkable faith and gives us hope that triumph over unbearable pain is possible. The story is like a love letter to her children and plays out in cinematic detail.

This beautifully–written, heartfelt memoir touched me deeply on a personal level as I related my own feelings about my children. She writes, “I wrote this book in hopes it would bring healing to others, instead I discovered that I was the one who healed." Thank you Pattie for sharing both your pain and your ability to overcome and move on from it so that the rest of us can have hope for the same if the need arises.

I highly recommend this memoir to any mother of teens/young adults as well as to grief support groups, medical professionals or church groups.… (més)

Journeys, if you haven’t had yours, be prepared. We all must take them! And this mother has been on one heck of a journey. It’s one that no parent should ever have to endure, not even a child. But as her son struggles to recover from a tragic accident, author, Patti Welek Hall gives her reader an extraordinary tale of a mother’s love. She leaves no stone unturned in revealing the details of it all.

As an artist, the author has done a remarkable task in pouring out the development of characterization and scenes. There is so much that goes on in the history of this true to life adventure. And yes, this story unfolds from one experience to the next. Truly, it’s a story full of struggles, challenges, hope, faith, determination, courage, strength, growth, pain, grief, and an abundance of love through and through.

Journeys can take one walking all over the trail . . . and this story is evidence of that walk.… (més)