Title: Living with NF & Story of Survival
Author: Hana Redding
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-5245-2490-6
Pages: 48
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Buy on AmazonPacific Book Review
NF is a medical abbreviation for Neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder resulting in a variety of growths, tumors and bumps all over the body. For many, the only person you may have heard about afflicted with this disease was Joseph Merrick, the first known case of NF to be diagnosed in London in the early 1800s, more commonly known as “The Elephant Man.”
This story is written by Hana Redding, a normal child in every way, except for her inherited chromosome disorder resulting in this terribly obtrusive condition. In Living with NF & Story of Survival, Hana Redding capitalizes the word “Living,” because that is exactly what she did. She lived with her condition. Being diagnosed with this disorder at a young age, the news was devastating to her mother, resulting in her mom’s many domestic arguments with her father, as blame was being sought. However with her strength, fortitude and a steadfast faith in God, Hana was able to bring some normality to her elementary school days and her life, as hard as it was. She talks about crazy thoughts of having an angel on one of her shoulders telling her everything will be okay, while a devil with a fork was on her other shoulder saying, “You’re ugly and weird. With that NF, you’ll never be as pretty as the other girls.” She finally graduated from high school, receiving her diploma on June 19, 1996. “It was one of the biggest highlights in my life, and also, God sent Jermaine to push me, and I couldn’t have done it without him by my side.”
Living with NF & Story of Survival is a terse chronicle of Hana’s challenges and triumphs during her childhood years, as well as describing the role of motherhood she gained by bringing into the world her two children. As NF1 is passed along from generation to generation, the birth of her children were at high risk for contracting the disease, however that was not the case as Hana had two healthy children. During her school years she tells about how she liked to wear her hair with long bangs, to hide behind, as one could only sympathize for her sense of shyness about her physical abnormalities. The author reveals just enough about herself to make it known to the readers that her life was indeed hard, different and something most people would never even think about. Yet she does reflect on her sadness of losing her husband and the joys of her children, so the reader does get to understand how normal Hana is and blessed in “Living.”
This is a book of survival and shows readers how insensitive people can sometimes be to make fun and tease children that are different. It can be used in a reading group for sensitivity conditioning, or read personally to gain a candid alternative view of inner strength and the power of faith. For whatever reasons, this book will long be remembered by those fortunate enough to have “met” Hana Redding.
