Title: The Last Dance: A True Story of Courage, Faith and Love
Author: Fr. Eddie Martin
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 9781663216854
Genre: Memoir/Non-Fiction
Pages: 310
Reviewed by: Barbara Scott

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A devoted husband records the last years of his wife’s life, her vibrant personality shining through every increasingly difficult event.

Fr. Eddie Martin met Jennie, his wife-to-be, seconds after praying that God would send him “the right one,” the woman he should spend the rest of his life with. Within a few days of their first date, she was convinced he was the one for her, and they married before they completed college. Housewife Jennie was creative and inventive, starting a family stationery business called Greetings of the Heart. Eddie participated in that business and other employment while becoming a Catholic deacon, and the two of them shared in mission work. All was going smoothly until Jennie began to experience pain which she attributed to gallbladder issues. When the couple finally consulted a physician, they learned the terrible truth: Jennie’s problem was pervasive cancer, which had spread to her liver.

Even with chemotherapy, she had only about two years to live. The two immediately began to set goals, taking small trips, even going twice to Honduras for mission visits, generally fulfilling limited dreams together as they came into acceptance of the realities of complex treatments, side effects, and the growing realization that the end was looming.

A faithfully believing Christian, Jennie was not afraid to die, as it would mean uniting in heaven with all her loved ones. She displayed until the very last an undaunted spirit and a lively sense of humor. A few weeks before her departure, when she could no longer eat and barely drink through a straw, she got up from her hospice bed and danced a slow shuffling dance with Eddie, ending in a gentle embrace.

This work has been gleaned in part from the many communications that Fr. Martin shared with family and friends over the two-plus years from Jennie’s diagnosis to her demise. These, bolstered by his often painful memories, clearly reveal his wife’s remarkably positive attitude even as she knew that her death was imminent, and his own slow but needed acceptance and constant support as they maintained, against every adversity, the caring relationship they had shared for nearly thirty-five years. His account details the difficulties and decisions that chemo and other treatments impose, citing specific medicines and techniques that will be enlightening for those facing similar crises.

Over all, Fr. Martin successfully conveys Jennie’s story both as a tribute to her enduring inner strength and also as a spiritual inspiration to others, wherever they may find themselves on life’s journey.