Simon Fitzmaurice Libri

"A fiercely eloquent testament to making the most out of every moment we're given." --People, Book of the Week A luminous memoir in the tradition of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and a #1 bestseller upon its initial release in Ireland, a young filmmaker gives us "a story of courage, of heart, of coming back for more, of love and struggle and the power of both" (Joseph O'Connor). In 2008, Simon Fitzmaurice was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. He was given four years to live. In 2010, in a state of lung-function collapse, Simon knew with crystal clarity that now was not his time to die. Against all prevailing medical opinion, he chose to ventilate in order to stay alive. In It's Not Yet Dark, the young filmmaker, a husband and father of five small children, draws us deeply into his inner world. Told in simply expressed and beautifully stark prose, it is an astonishing journey into a life that, though brutally compromised, is lived more fully than most, revealing at its core the potent power love has to carry us through the days. Written using an eye-gaze computer, It's Not Yet Dark is an unforgettable book about relationships and family, about what connects and separates us as people, and, ultimately, about what it means to be alive.

Zunächst dachte Simon Fitzmaurice nur, sein Schuh drückt. Doch in den folgenden Tagen wanderte das taube Gefühl sein Bein hinauf. Dann die Diagnose: Amyotrophe Lateralsklerose, kurz ALS, eine Nervenkrankheit, die durch Lähmungen und Muskelschwund innerhalb weniger Jahre zum Tod führt. Simon verzweifelt - und schöpft doch wieder Mut, denn seine Familie steht uneingeschränkt hinter ihm. So lässt er sich fallen in die Liebe zu den Seinen und dem Leben und erfährt mit großer Klarheit die Kostbarkeit eines jeden Augenblicks.