A life and death love story of how one couple navigated through a devasting illness
Can love survive the onslaught of chronic illness? Writer Sarah Cart shares how she became one of 39 million Americans taking care of an ailing loved one in ON MY WAY BACK TO YOU, One Couple’s Journey through Catastrophic Illness to Healing and Hope (Forefront Books; April 2, 2024). “My husband, Ben, just past his mid-fifties, was irrepressibly healthy and energetic until, suddenly, he wasn’t.”
In suspenseful and heart-rending detail, Cart recounts how, beginning with an incurable autoimmune disease, her husband developed one life-threatening condition after another. As each month passed, she felt her best friend, this brilliant businessman, successful entrepreneur, and energetically engaged and organized father to their four sons, slipping away, until eventually they received devastating news: Ben needed a heart transplant. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. Two weeks after the COVID-19 lockdown, they realized Ben’s body was shutting down and his only hope was to get on the list and get that transplant now—in the midst of a pandemic.
And that wasn’t even half of what was to come.
About the Author
Sarah Cart was raised and educated in New York and New England, and wrote for multiple local publications while she and her husband, Ben, raised four sons in northeastern Ohio.
Upon becoming empty nesters, the two moved to the Florida Keys, but they returned every summer to the Pennsylvania Poconos, where each had lifelong family connections.
Life is hard, messy, beautiful, unpredictable . . . and fragile.
In our prime, it seems as if we are in the best of health with everything going our way. We feel invincible. Full days, weeks, months, years race by, and in our haste, we don’t fully appreciate our glowing health until something goes awry.
As one season of life evolves into the next, a physical challenge suddenly arises to test us in every possible way.
That’s what happened to my husband, Ben. And that’s what this book is about: Ben’s experience facing a life-threatening illness and coping with a medical crisis that appeared out of nowhere—one that almost killed him. Like collapsing dominoes, each setback toppled into the next, nearly crushing us both.
— Sarah Cart
Testimonials
I don’t know Sarah Cart – but now I want to! Her story of profound pain and unexpected miracles will touch your heart and move you to tears. Her family story is unique, but it could be anyone’s story, too. How do we get through the most devastating experiences of our life? One precious day at a time, that’s how.
KATHIE LEE GIFFORD
American television presenter
and singer-songwriter