Rowing Without Oars

ROWING WITHOUT OARS: A Memoir of Living and Dying: Ulla-Carin Lindquist: Viking: Nonfiction: 197 pp.

Successful Swedish television newsreader Ulla-Carin Lindquist sought medical help for back pain, weakness in her hand and a new tendency to stumble. The previously fit and energetic fifty-year old mother of four was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The progressive and incurable neurological illness affects voluntary muscle action, eventually rendering paralysis and ultimately death.

Choosing “to make something worthwhile of the misfortune” and so that her young sons have something from her to read, comes this honest and poignant memoir. Her words, translated from Swedish, hold nothing back and draw in the reader, heart and soul.

She spends the brief time she has left in the company of those she loves often having difficult yet essential conversations. Birthdays and holidays pass with all knowing that it will be her last. Self-pitying never enters in. She savors each second. As her health deteriorates, she stoically gives up her autonomy and relies on family, friends and caretakers for the bare essentials of life: bathing, eating and toileting. She ends her journal with words her young son spoke to remind her that each moment counts. “Every second is a life.”

DLD