Hannah’s Gift: Lessons from a Life Fully Lived

Hannah’s Gift: Lessons from a Life Fully Lived
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Hannah’s Gift: Lessons from a Life Fully Lived
Hanna’s Gift tells the story of a young girl, Hannah, diagnosed with cancer at age two and succumbed to the disease at age three. The author, Maria Housden, is the victim's mother. The book accounts for the struggles she goes through to accept Hannah’s illness and inevitable death while adjusting to life. Among the values Housden learns from her extraordinary daughter’s experiences are joy, compassion, faith, truth and wonder. When Housden's seven-year-old son asks her questions regarding death, Hannah is enthralled and declares that she wants to be a butterfly when she dies (Housden, 2003). Following Hannah’s death, the author offers readers a gift of the lessons she learns from her daughter’s short life. She delivers this Gift particularly to those seeking to assist their loved ones through death and dying or help themselves in the grieving process.
Sincerely, Hannah’s Gift is a touching and emotional story that no parent would want to experience. The story is full of sadness, pain, and reality that people must face when they undergo the grieving process. Hannah’s mother had to face this reality while making changes in her own life. Indeed, it was a difficult moment for Housden to see her daughter being subjected to a series of painful incapacitating treatments, from chemotherapy to bone-marrow transplants. The most challenging moment was accepting Hannah's death after a battle with cancer (rhabdoid tumor).
Maria also shared personal details and memories of her experience. Other than being worried about Hannah's condition, she was dealing with the emotional and physical pain of a miscarriage. However, I ...