A Healing Touch: True Stories of Life, Death, and Hospice

Hospice organizations provide services and support for those who are terminally ill, and also for their families. Because each person's need is different, hospice services are varied and far-reaching. Maine author Richard Russo was asked by an old friend to help raise funds for a central Maine hospice association, and this little book is the result. Understanding that it's the stories that matter, Russo enlisted five other Maine writers and produced A Healing Touch: True Stories of Life, Death, and Hospice. All royalties and some of the profits are going to Hospice Volunteers of the Waterville (ME) Area (HVWA). Russo tells the story of his friend Lee Duff, whose wife suffered from Alzheimer's; Duff is now president of the board of HVWA. The pain and loss associated with this disease threatened the whole family's identity, as Russo so poignantly relates. Russo attributes Duff's never-give-up ethic to the early responsibilities of farm life in a demanding climate: "New England is not known for begetting optimists, and northern Maine's shallow, hardscrabble soil and long, bitter winters are more likely to make you a Calvinist or a Red Sox fan or, tragically, both." The other Maine writers contributing to this project are Gerry Boyle, Wesley McNair, Bill Roorbach, Susan Sterling, and Monica Wood. Each writer interviewed one person or family and told their story. The pathos of the stories is more than offset by the seed of faith and hope that germinates under the care of the hospice workers. A quilt from a dead son's clothing; a song from a musician who lost a young child; a posthumous promotion for a soldier among the first to fall in Iraq; a crockery-smashing session at the annual Camp Ray of Hope. All sources of comfort and healing. To me, the most moving aspect of the book is the way each writer brings himself or herself into the midst of the story, actors in the same play if not the same production. Monica Wood, for example, writes of a volunteer music therapist whose gift is the comfort of music to people at the end of life. Wood, drawing a comparison with the way she and her sisters coped with their mother's slow dying, writes, "We were musical girls, trained in the church choir. And yet we did not think to sing ... Why did we not think to sing?" This book sings. Some of the songs are sad, but all are filled with the harmony of people coping, sharing, comforting, and ultimately finding strength and peace. Kudos to Russo and his Maine colleagues for taking on this project and for producing such a moving little book. Linda Bulger, 2008

If you are looking for a book that offers hope, inspiration, some tears, lots of smiles, and then leaves you wanting more, this is the book for you. A Healing Touch is a collection of six stories, and though written about people who live in Maine, they could be about anyone, anywhere life happens. The stories are written by six talented authors who craft their respective words with compassion, keen insights and skill. I personally know each of the subjects in this book - some I have known for many years - and in reading A Healing Touch I learned more about their struggles, hearts and souls than all of my time and conversations with them could begin to convey. They each shared their journey with amazing grace, honesty and with the genuine hope their sharing would help others who are faced with what seems like insurmountable odds for survival following a loss. Upon reading the final page and closing its cover you will no doubt, as I did, feel the need to simply sit and hold the book to your heart.

As one of the writers who contributed to this book, I feel I have to add to the description above. This is not a sad book; it is truly an inspiring book. I say this having been moved by the experience of interviewing my subjects-- a couple who lost their eldest son in a car accident, plummeted to the absolute depths of despair, and emerged, because of a hospice group for grieving parents, better people. Reading these six essays will leave you encouraged about the strength of people who are just like us. It's a hopeful book and a powerful one. So excuse the five stars (are authors supposed to do that?), but I feel strongly that this is very much worth reading.

i bought this book on sunday and was so very moved by the stories in it. i lost my husband on dec. 6 2007. it was nice to read about local people and how hospice helped them with their grief. i to am going to hospice and am amazed at the people there and their commpassion for helping others.i started to read it and could not put it down. it is very well written and i was also very glad to see local people writing it. i really enjoyed the book and would highly recommend everyone to buy it. it is not a long book but it is worth every penny. i also would like to see more of these books written. there are so many people out there that have amazing stories to tell and i really feel that people should be reading about them and all the help that this wonderful group of people have to offer. thsnk you