Six Months to Live: Learning from a Young Man with Cancer

by Daniel Hallock

“I wouldn’t trade my life for anyone else’s. If I could choose not to have cancer, and continue my life as it was, I wouldn’t do it.” – Matt Gauger.

You’re twenty-two, in love, and just starting a career. The last thing you’re worried about is the purpose of life (whatever that means) and when you’re going to die. If you think about such things, you certainly don’t talk about them.

With his sociable personality and love of music and basketball, Matt had plenty of friends but didn’t really stand out from the crowd. Then, a month before his wedding, he was diagnosed with cancer. Six months later he was dead. But Six Months to Live isn’t really about dying. It’s the story of how Matt and his family and friends struggled to accept his suffering, and how it changed each of them. It’s about facing (rather than avoiding) life’s most important questions, and – instead of going through the motions – living life to the full.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Biography

154 pages, Paperback

First published December 25, 2000

Reviews

[Justin Shockley · Rating 5 out of 5]

chilling and necessary. be bold. buy the book.

[Debra Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to thank Goodreads for awarding me this book printed by Plough Publishing House.
We are all going to die. Are you ready to die today? Daniel Hallock wrote this Memoir of his friend, Matt Gauger, after Matt's death. It's called: Six Months to Live. I was so emotionally moved by this beautifully written tribute.
Matt grew up in a Christian home. When he was in his late teens, he gave his life to Christ and was baptized. He started a job that he liked and began his adult life. At the age of 22, Matt became violently sick with terrible pain and swollen glands. He went through several tests and was found to have lymphoma. While the community and his family prayed for him, Matt suffered during chemo treatments. While we are mostly praying for physical healing, it is spiritual healing that is more important. When we pray for "His will to be done", we must mean it. God's will is not always going to be our will. He is not God because He grants wishes. He is God because He knows what is best for us. During this time Matt and Cynthia fell in love and got married. She was a great comfort to him.
Matt got sicker and with his family made the decision to stop all treatments. He finally felt surrounded by the peace of God. He knew his death was imminent and he was excited about the Kingdom of God. With his family around him he took his last breath. Cynthia actually heard singing from above. Now that gives me goosebumps!!
Matt is a real Christian hero. A man of great courage and a strong faith. He shows us how to die with God's grace. I cried tears of sadness and joy. I understand what the Gauger family has been through. I lost my own Christian son when he was 23. So, do you know God? Are you ready to die?

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I got this book from the freestuff.com, and it came to my home address and I read it, and I felt utterly sad, so I've sent an email to Hallock family, and they replied thanking me for reading it. It was heartbreaking.

[Koren · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can bet from the title that this is a rather depressing story. A young man (22) gets cancer. He is engaged and gets married during his battle. I was interested in the story when I saw that he had lymphoma, which is what I had. I would have liked to have read more about the medical aspect of his battle. The book is 24 years old and a lot has happened in the field since he had his cancer. His cancer had spread when it was discovered and he initially had a great deal of pain. I was told that lymphoma is easily treatable with the chemo drugs they have today. The young man in the book was told if his lymphoma came back it would be a death sentence, but that is not true anymore. This book looks more at the spiritual side of his battle and not as much the medical side.

[Danielle Schutte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone could learn a lot about how to live reading this book.

[Sharon Zink · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very engaging read. I liked the direct quotations from Matt's wife, family, friends, and physicians.

[J. Ewbank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a difficult book to read in many ways. You knew before you started that the main character of the book Matt is going to die from lymphoma. I went with him through his early pain, doctor's tests, prescriptions, and diagnoses. I went with him when he decided to see if Cynthia, a girl with whom he got along well, would marry him, even with all the the things going against him. She did, and the story continues up to his death and burial. It is heartwarming, yet painful to read. I would not have missed it.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" "To Whom It May Concern" and soon, "Tell Me About the United Methodist Church"

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cried while I read it but couldn't put it down. I lost someone to cancer and this brought it all right to the surface. What a good read! The story is about how everyone copes more than just another cancer book. You get pulled in to the community, and it doesn't matter what you believe, you still have to deal with reality. This was real from the inside of the human heart.

[Mayowa Adebiyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent read and would happily recommend to anyone facing the prospect of losing a loved one. Also a potent weapon for public policy debates in the hands of anyone looking for positive examples of facing death in the context of a loving community, in contrast to the easy way out that assisted dying proponents offer as an alternative.

[Michael Shulman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best inspirational book I have ever read. I am the same age as the main subject of the book so I could definitely relate. When I finished reading, I had tears in my eyes. The story was that powerful and sad. This book really changed my outlook on life.