Bret Witter

Susan Spencer-Wendel

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER What would you do with one last year? Susan Spencer-Wendel was determined to laugh instead of cry. In June 2011, Susan Spencer-Wendel learned she had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - Lou Gehrig's disease - an irreversible condition that systematically destroys the nerves that power the muscles. She was 44-years-old, with three young children, and she had only one year of health remaining. She decided to live that year with joy. She left her job as a journalist and spent time with her family. She built a meeting place for friends in her backyard. And she took seven trips with the seven most important people in her life. As her health declined, Susan journeyed to the Yukon, Hungary, the Bahamas, and Cyprus. She went to the beach with her sons and to Kleinfeld's bridal shop in New York City with her teenage daughter, Marina, for a glimpse of the wedding she would never attend. She also wrote this book. No longer able to walk or even lift her arms, she tapped it out letter by letter on her iPhone using only her right thumb, the last finger still working. And yet Until I Say Good-Bye is not angry or bitter. It is sad in parts - how could it not be? - but it is filled with Susan's optimism, joie de vivre and sens of humour. It is a book that, like Susan, will make everyone smile. From a hilarious family Christmas disaster to the decrepit monastery in eastern Cyprus where she rediscovered her heritage, Until I Say Good-Bye is Susan Spencer-Wendel's unforgettable gift to her loved ones and to us: a record of their final experiences together and a reminder that every day is better when it is lived with joy.

My Year of Living with Joy

Until I Say Good-Bye

A 45-year-old journalist and mother of three who has Lou Gehrig's disease, an irreversible condition that systematically destroys the nerves that power the muscles, invites readers on her transformational journey to make every day count. 250,000 first printing.

Bret Writter

Papallones sota la pell és el regal d’una mare als seus fills. Un commovedor testimoni, una emocionant lliçó vital. Nedar amb dofins, viatjar a la recerca d'aurores boreals, veure com una filla s'emprova vestits de núvia, construir una cabanya chickee o buscar els ancestres en països llunyans són records que es graven a la memòria. Quan Susan Spencer-Wendel va saber que patia una esclerosi lateral amiotròfica, la seva vida va canviar. A partir de llavors, va decidir que viuria cada moment al màxim, gaudiria plenament al costat de les persones estimades, viatjaria als llocs somiats i aprendria a somriure pels moments viscuts. Va decidir que regalaria records a aquelles persones que volia que no l’oblidessin.

Papallones sota la pell

Susan Spencer-Wendel’s Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living with Joy is a moving and inspirational memoir by a woman who makes the most of her final days after discovering she has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). After Spencer-Wendel, a celebrated journalist at the Palm Beach Post, learns of her diagnosis of ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, she embarks on several adventures, traveling toseveral countries and sharing special experiences with loved ones. One trip takes Spencer-Wendel and her fourteen-year-old daughter, Marina, to New York City’s Kleinfeld’s Bridal to shop for Marina’s future wedding dress—an occasion that Susan knows she will never see. Co-written with Bret Witter, Until I Say Good-Bye is Spencer-Wendel’s account of living a full life with humor, courage, and love, but also accepting death with grace and dignity. It’s a celebration of life, a look into the face of death, and the effort we must make to show the people that we love and care about how very much they mean to us.

»Ich bin zu beschäftigt mit dem Leben, um mir über das Sterben Gedanken zu machen.« Susan Spencer-Wendel Sie weiß, dass sie bald sterben wird. Doch die tödliche Krankheit, die ihren Körper zerstört, kann ihrem Willen nichts anhaben: Susan Spencer-Wendel ist entschlossen, jeden Tag, der ihr bleibt, zu nutzen, um ihren Freunden, ihrem Mann, vor allem aber ihren drei Kindern einen Schatz schöner, gemeinsamer Erinnerungen zu hinterlassen. Also begibt sie sich mit ihnen auf Reisen ... – ihr bewegendes Buch lehrt uns, das Leben auszukosten, so kurz es auch sein mag. Die Krankheit ALS (amyotrophe Lateralsklerose) führt durch Schädigung der Nervenzellen innerhalb weniger Jahre zu Lähmungserscheinungen der Gliedmaßen, dann der Schluck- und Atemmuskulatur, schließlich zum Tod. Als Susan Spencer-Wendel, Gerichtsreporterin und Mutter dreier Kinder, mit 44 Jahren von ihrer Erkrankung erfährt, beschließt sie, zu reisen und darüber ein Buch zu schreiben – ein Wettlauf mit der Zeit. Sie fährt mit einer Freundin nach Kanada, um die berühmten Nordlichter zu sehen, und mit ihrem Mann nach Budapest, wo sie die ersten Jahre ihrer Ehe verbrachten. Mit ihrer 14-jährigen Tochter besucht sie in New York den berühmten Brautausstatter Kleinfeld – denn wenn Marina einmal heiratet, wird Susan nicht mehr dabei sein. Diese Geschichte mag tieftraurig sein, doch es ist nicht Susan Spencer-Wendels Absicht, uns das Herz zu brechen. Sie erinnert uns vielmehr daran, was angesichts unserer Sterblichkeit wirklich zählt: das Leben an jedem einzelnen Tag zu lieben.

Erinnerungen für eine Zukunft ohne mich

Bevor ich gehe

“Ridete, piangete, stringetevi ai vostri figli, ai vostri amici. Siate felici, fermatevi e riflettete su quanto sia meraviglioso essere vivi.”

Susan Spencer-Wendel

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