Heartbreaking

I found this book very confronting. While I have a few friends that live with chronic illnesses, so I fully understand the concept of good days and bad days -- and occasionally bad days that turn into bad weeks, the illness first presented by the author made me realise just how different a disease it is. And then to just confound that, to find out you received a much more serious one during the course of managing it! It's clear that the author has very little regard for the medical profession, and a lot of anger, which is completely understandable. The roughly chronological timeline of the book showed just how everything progressed, and the ending made me extremely emotional.

Great book

Excellent yet incredibly sad story about Bryce Courtenay's son, Damon. I was taken on an incredible journey of inspiration, shown the strength some people possess and the tragedy a chronic illness can bring. Throughout the book you learn about the complications of hemophilia and how the necessity for blood transfusions can lead to contracting HIV. From there we followed the fast and heart wrenching decline of Damon as his HIV turned into full blown AIDS. However, this book is more than a tragic story and how to face struggle. It shows how family and friends can come together and it shows the immense amount of love that surrounded Damon. How this love can keep a person going and inspire a strong will to live and to fight till the bitter end.