Six Months to Live: Learning from a Young Man with Cancer

By Daniel Hallock

Book Overview

"I wouldn't trade my life for anyone else's. If I could choose not to have cancer, and continue my life as it was, I wouldn't do it." - Matt Gauger. You're twenty-two, in love, and just starting a career. The last thing you're worried about is the purpose of life (whatever that means) and when you're going to die. If you think about such things, you certainly don't talk about them. With his sociable personality and love of music and basketball, Matt had plenty of friends but didn't really stand out from the crowd. Then, a month before his wedding, he was diagnosed with cancer. Six months later he was dead. But Six Months to Live isn't really about dying. It's the story of how Matt and his family and friends struggled to accept his suffering, and how it changed each of them. It's about facing (rather than avoiding) life's most important questions, and - instead of going through the motions - living life to the full.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874866545
• ISBN13: 9780874866544
• Release Date: July 2015
• Publisher: Plough Publishing House
• Length: 154 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.4" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Six Months to Live

This book made me feel sad and happy all at the same time. Matt a young man given a short time to live after being diagnosed with cancer, doesn't shun away the world but opens himself to everything. He becomes very spiritual and in touch with God through his illness. I had a very hard time being able to put the book down. The way his family, friends, and community reacted is incredible, they were very compassionate and supportive. I would suggest this book to anyone.

What a brave man

I don't live far from Farmington,PA and infact I have been to the Bruderhof and these ppl are so kind and wonderful..After reading this book I felt such a pain for the family and friends that had to watch there dear son, brother,husband and friend live all those months of hell..But, What a strong man Matt was and for him to live each day in pain but still carry a smile..The book was not hard to read at all and was well understood..Really made you feel like you were there throughout the days and hours with him..I picked the book up in a local resteraunt here and read within a day..My thoughts are with the family..

Death, Stared Down

A 22-year-old's battle against cancer might seem an unlikely topic for an uplifting book -- but Six Months to Live is certainly that. It's the story of Matt, a young man who, faced with death, refused to quit living. Matt wasn't a hero, and the writer of his story doesn't make him out to be one. Six Months to Live steers clear of the cliches and catch-phrases we often use to help us "make sense" of terminal illness. Instead, the book is realistic: it shows us Matt's darkest hours as well as his triumphs; his doubts as well as his faith. That's why, at the end, the reader is not left feeling Matt's life was "wasted"; rather, that it was used for a cause bigger than any one of us. We're all dead men, the movie Gladiator reminds us. Like as not, we don't get to choose how or when we die. But we all can choose how we meet death. Six Months to Live can help us choose well. Thanks to Matt.