I Choose Everything: Embracing Life in the Face of Terminal Illness

Before they die, Moss and Wenham have something to say about living. Moss, a teacher in South Africa, and Wenham (My Donkey Body), an Anglican priest in England, suffer from motor neuron disease (known in the U.S. as ALS)%E2%80%94not a diagnosis but a death sentence, declares Moss. The authors met through the Internet, and some of Moss's blog posts about her degeneration are reprinted here. She concentrates on her family as well as her spiritual maturing, whereas Wenham focuses on biblical studies related to sickness-unto-death and/or healing. Some arguments are more focused than others; his exegesis of Job is his soundest. Her weakest essay is on humor; her strongest, on a mother's love. Her concern for her children's welfare exceeds worry about her death, for she knows she is going to heaven. The twain meet in unified messages about living with terminal illness and faith. Both stand firmly against suicide and for pain management. The dominant word is "choice," from "choose" in the title to their thesis: "[we] embrace the whole of life whether we like it or not." (Apr.)