Book Review: Still Emily - A Memoir by Emily Owen
Dear Friends,
I recently finished reading "Still Emily" by Emily Owen and I have to say it's in my top ten books I've ever read.
It's a book about an incredible woman of faith (I don't know she would describe herself that way, but it is my opinion of her. Why not read her book and see for yourself?)
She was diagnosed at the age of sixteen with NF2 (Neurofibromatosis Type 2) of which I knew nothing about until I read her book. It is a really terrible illness which has robbed her (and her family) of so much. And yet, Emily never gives in to it. She doesn't let it rob her of her faith in God. Neither does she allow it to define who she is. Her faith and her identity as a child of God shine through and she is still the same person she was before her diagnosis.
I think there are two reasons why she is able to overcome such hard struggles. First, because of her faith in God which she was grounded in from a young age, having been brought up in a Christian home. Secondly, she has the love and support of an amazing family.
After her first operation, something went wrong and her parents were told that Emily may not survive what the doctors think was a stroke in her brainstem. Emily writes that her parents "were confronted, unwillingly, with a decision that no one should ever have to face: what would they say if asked to turn off life support? They faced a literal life and death decision. And yet they knew that, at the same time, it was a death to life decision. From death to never-ending life with God who, through seventeen years, I had learned to trust. So, through their heartache, they agreed that if necessary, they would say 'yes'."
I can't imagine having to make that decision for anyone I loved, let alone a child of mine.
I can't imagine having to make that decision for anyone I loved, let alone a child of mine.
Emily did not die that day, but she did need to relearn how to do everything again, even something as basic to us as breathing. Neither was that the only operation she would need. She has had over twenty operations since 1996 to remove tumours not just on her brain but elsewhere on her body too.
In her book, Emily writes how NF2 took away her hopes and dreams for her life and she went through a time of questioning whether God would bother with her now. However, God showed her she was still important to him and he has given her new plans and purpose for her life. Now she is able to write and speak about her experiences and her faith, and all for his glory. I believe that she has probably reached and will continue to reach more people than she would have done had it not been for having to live with NF2.
Emily shares openly and honestly about herself and the challenges she has faced. Her book shows us her courage to overcome them, her faith in God and how he enables her to live victoriously for him.
There are so many more examples I could tell you about but the best thing you can do is read the book for yourself.
I have, however, been granted permission by Emily, to share an excerpt from her book. It is just after another appointment at a hospital when she and her parents are shown scans which reveal the tumour in the right side of her brain has grown and needs to be operated on.
As I left the consultation, head whirling, I was told that I’d receive a letter with a date for surgery.
Surgery that would take my hearing.
A date with deafness.
My parents and I walked out of the hospital, trying to absorb news we’d hoped was a long way off. As we stepped outside, the heavens opened and soaked us. Rain was a symbolic reflection of the day.
Making our way to the car, we kept our heads down, trying to avoid the raindrops.
But we couldn’t dodge the raindrops any more than we could dodge my tumour.
It was there and it wasn’t going to disappear.
As we drove out of the car park, my eyes turned towards the water pouring down the car windowpane.
I could hear rain drumming on the roof.
My gaze travelled unseeingly upwards until, in the grey sky, I saw a rainbow.
I stared in wonder.
The rainbow was beautiful and I felt as though God had put it there just for me, reassuring me that I wasn’t alone.
We continued the drive home, and as we sped the 100 miles along the motorway, we saw rainbow after rainbow after rainbow.
I’ve never seen anything like it, before or since.
Despite the grey day, the bad news I’d received, the dread of more brain surgery and a silent future,
the rainbows were there.
I reached out.
And I grabbed them.
I still look for rainbows:
A smile from a baby,
chocolate,
a lunch date with a friend,
a letter in the post.
Anything that brightens my day.
I find the rainbows.
And I cling on.
"Still Emily" is a book which has blessed and encouraged me in my own journey of faith. I really recommend that you read it too. We all face struggles and difficulties in life, they may not be the same as Emily has faced, but life is undoubtedly hard for each one of us at times. I am sure this book will help you to realise that you are not alone and that God is with you too and it will strengthen your faith in him.
I want to just leave you with one thought:
Will you and I follow Emily's example and look for rainbows even when they are hard to see?
Vicki
Emily lives in Leicester. Some of the things she splits her time between are writing, speaking, hospital appointments, and being wrapped around the little fingers of her nieces/nephews/godchildren. The Power of Seven, her latest book, is – coincidentally – her seventh book.
You can connect with Emily in the following ways:
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