Non-F A HEART that WORKS by Ron Delaney-Comedian's Irreparable Loss of His Son

I need to remind myself why I chose to read Rob Delaney's book memorializing his son's two and a half years of life, the inconsolable pain and torment watching his son suffer and die.  Rob Delaney made it clear why he chose to write about the worst thing imaginable for any parent to experience.  I'm a fan of Rob Delaney's standup and of his popular show CATASTROPHE which he stars and co-writes.  The comical and oftentimes jarringly serious and sobering series airs on Apple TV.  The series overlapped with the year and half their youngest son was treated for a fatal brain tumor.   Delaney wrote "Our baby boy got sick.  We went to a lot of doctors, trying to find out what was wrong with him.  We found out what it was. It was very, very bad.  It got worse.  And then he died.  And now he's dead.  I still have to remind myself."  Delaney is clear as to his reasoning for writing about this. "Why do I feel compelled to talk about it, to write about it, to disseminate information designed to make people feel something like what I feel?  What my wife feels?  What my other sons feel?  Done properly, it will hurt them.  Why do I want to hurt people?"  Delaney goes on to say, "I genuinely believe, whether it's true or not, that if people felt a fraction of what my family felt and still feels, they would know what this life and this world are really about."  I have to admit that my motive for reading was anything but altruistic.  I wanted to put my problems in a perspective that would make me feel humble and grateful.  Delaney's unfiltered depictions are so heart wrenching that I feel the hurt.  I also felt shamed.  Ashamed for expecting someone else's pain to suffice for agony I've been spared.  For this I feel horrible.  I feel fortunate for not having suffered this inconsolable grief loss but I do share the deep sorrow others carry.  I realize life is to be savored and the joys of having loved ones and the miraculous gift for loving is to be cherished.   I did gain a wisdom from having read Delaney's  piercing account in "A Heart that Works".  From this wisdom came sorrow. "Name an emotion:  I can still feel it, and often do.  Leah and our boys and I laugh everyday.  But now there's a band of black in my rainbow, too, that wasn't there before.  Or if it was there, I couldn't see it before Henry died.  It's a part of me now.  And it should be.  Grief colors the happy moments now."  (Rob Delaney). "A Heart that WORKS" should be read.  It will imprint its grip upon your heart.