Review of First Survivor

[Lisa Thomason]

[Following is a volunteer review of "First Survivor" by Mark Unger.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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First Survivor, by Mark Unger, is a personal story of his son's fight against childhood cancer. The story opens on the day before Thanksgiving 2001. As Mary Ellen and Mark take their 3 year-old son to the hospital, they are devastated by the news. The first diagnosis was Legg-Calve-Perthes disease which is a rare disease. As these parents ride the roller coaster of emotions, their son Louis takes it all in stride. Louis has an older brother named Harry. The author also shares the conflict that Harry goes through. As Mary Ellen and Mark spend alot of time in the hospital with Louis, Harry begins to feel neglected and begins to resent his younger brother. Each time a new diagnosis was made, Mark read up on it and kept a journal. At one point in Louis's treatment, Mark asked the question "Will the fire brigade do more damage than the the fire?" This was in response to the terrible side effects of the medicines. As Louis has a recurrence of cancer, the parents are told that if it came back, it would be fatal. Does Louis survive? Read the book to discover the outcome.

At first I was concerned that reading a book about a childhood cancer survivor might be sad but the book was an excellent read. I thoroughly enjoyed the personal account of the struggles that each family went through. Mark Unger does a great job presenting each person's perspective. I was amazed at the candid accounts from each family member. As the tale unfolds, I found myself enamored with each family member.

First Survivor was written in such a way that there was nothing I could find wrong with it. There was only one grammatical error and one profanity. I found myself totally immersed in the storyline.

I rate this book a five out of five stars. The entire book was an inspiring tale of a young family's struggle with a cancer diagnosis. The book was exceptionally edited as evidenced by the lack of errors. It was a well-written account of a real life situation. No one likes the thought of a child fighting cancer and going through the horrific stages of treatment, but this book gives the reader a peek into what one family went through. For those families going through a childhood cancer diagnosis, this book would be an inspiring tale that they could relate to.

I would recommend this book readers of all ages. I believe that this book will appeal to all ages because it is written in a way that is easy to understand and identify with. Kids will see how resilient Louis is and parents will see the courageous fight of this family.

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First Survivor
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[Enjani Matendeko]

I don't know the best word to use to describe Louis. But he's a child worth writing a story about. He survived very serious cancer attacks that could have easily cost him his life. However, he survived. That was really amazing.