When Will The Heaven Begin?: This is Ben Breedlove’s
Story. Penguin Group (USA). October
2013. 320 pp. pbk. ISBN #: 9780451239648.
Ben
Breedlove just wanted to be an ordinary person but that was impossible as he
was born with HCM or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This condition meant that Ben’s heart could
stop at any moment. While certain
strenuous activities or foods could send Ben into atrial fibrillation and
eventual HCM, heart failure could also happen at any time, including while he
was sleeping. This was an amazing burden
for his parents to bear; yet like so many parents with children with special
physical needs, they lived with this reality, in fact lived as normal life as
one could live under their unique circumstances. The story of Ben is not about illness but
about living with the knowledge that one is blessed with what one has and that
eventually passing to another life is okay, in fact, more than okay. For Ben that faithful knowledge was a product
of experience.
Before
that special event occurred, however, Ben had to deal with numerous medical
tests and curtailment of his eating and play habits as a child. His parents were shocked to learn of this
condition, a thickening of the heart muscle which would worsen over time, and
the fact that there was no surgery or medicine that could cure it or even
ease. While he was given medications
which could ease the symptoms, he had to learn to live with it. Ben is depicted as a pleasant child and teen
who loved to play tricks on his family, enjoy his friends, and developed a
special love for making videos. Close to
his parents and sisters, he was a normal person whose condition kept everyone
on alert as to the slightest changes in his physical appearance. He even tried some less strenuous sports such
as wake surfing but after one particular experience of a fractured ankle was
unable to continue what he loved.
As
Ben grew older, he began making videos for YouTube on just about every topic of
interest to teens such as dating, spirituality, etc. Eventually he made a video about his own
heart condition and the experience he had in which he clearly knew he was on his
way to heaven. He knew from that point
on that death wasn’t to be feared; instead he actually welcomed it, very aware
that he even longed for it as he knew his heart couldn’t hold out much longer. The video was called, “This is My Story,”
Ben’s account of his near death experience told through the use of flash
cards. The questions he ultimately asked
on these flash cards, before his untimely death at the age of 18 years old,
concerned whether the reader believed in God, as well as asking what “you” are
doing with the life you are living.
Potent words from a teen in a poignant condition.
When
it comes to a person’s demise coming at a young age, with the consciousness of
its looming presence, each person almost always concentrates on the special
qualities of everyday living in this earthly environment. But Ben’s life laced with compassion and
humor is about what each person is doing in this life that has value and
purpose and how important it is to consider the afterlife of heaven. No,
there’s no fear here at all. Heaven is
described in a highly appealing way and depicted as an appealing experience
that should be welcome. It seems that it
can’t be anything other than ‘heavenly.”
Words
cannot fully capture the unique quality of this story about Ben Breedlove. Only the hardest of hearts could read this
book and not be deeply moved. It is a
tribute to the passionate love of life and God that was Ben’s primary concern
and his legacy to the world he left, which is awaiting a reunion with Ben in
the heaven he so lovingly describes!
Ally Breedlove has written a fitting tribute that is more about her
brother’s message of love to a hopefully wide audience! Nicely done, indeed, Ally
Breedlove!
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