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Keep Moving, Creating a Life After Loss

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A compelling self help guide about pancreatic cancer, death of a husband and father, rarely discussed aspects of terminal illness, surviving grief, and giving yourself permission to create a life after loss.
Keep Moving, Creating a Life after Loss describes the life before diagnosis, during treatment and after the death of Mike, husband to Holly and father to Christopher and Ryan. Learn how, as a family, they demonstrate the ability to process a devastating loss with their grief and keep moving while honoring his memory.
This inspirational self help guide of timely sharing written by Holly Rose Holland includes learning how to live well and appreciate a second chance to live a new life. People who have experienced lifestyle, relationship, and job loss will also benefit.
This account of a battle with pancreatic cancer will encourage you to accept grief and continue your life without guilt.
Ideas are included to help you plan, prepare and adapt. Readers will benefit from the information that will result.
You will cherish memories and benefit from giving yourself permission to keep living life. This is the perfect gift for those who have experienced a heartbreaking loss.

150 pages, Paperback

Published December 20, 2020

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Holly Rose Holland

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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Mary-Lisa Russo.
Author 10 books98 followers
September 11, 2021
This is probably one of the most difficult reviews I have ever written. My tears revealed themselves more and more as each page was read. I literally stopped breathing at some points and I felt my heart crack and then shatter into multiple pieces and as I kept moving forward, reading to the end of the book, I felt as though all those shattered pieces of my heart were being gingerly sewn back together with a needle and thread and shaking hand.

The knowledge that this book is a factual rendition, made it so much more poignant for me. I cried and had to stop reading it a few times.

The book is meticulously written. It revolves around the true story of the author’s husband, Mike’s, heart wrenching experience with pancreatic cancer. Holly Rose Holland compartmentalizes her husband’s cancer journey from his pre-diagnosis, his cancer treatment, his death and the grieving family’s attempt to cope and move forward, bereft of a central figure in their family. As a reader, you witnessed this journey in full circle, keenly aware of the seriousness of receiving a high stage cancer diagnosis and the stressful, devastating, rippling effect it has on the cancer patient as well as caregivers, family and friends.

At the end of the book, the author also added some helpful charts for the reader to fill out when the time comes. It shows her giving nature in wanting to provide help to others who may feel lost in their own traumatic journey.

The book does break your heart. And yet, the author does her best to empower the reader, to give hope, to encourage the griever to embrace that to keep “moving forward” in your own life journey is not only permitted, but naturally essential to do so. I think that is something we all struggle with…how to move forward when your world is shattered, be it because of a death, a job loss, lifestyle change, chronic illness diagnosis or anything else that may devastate and disrupt your world. This is an excellent book to give anyone hope and strength to weather any of life’s perfect storms.

I recommend this soul-searching book. It is triggering and empowering at the same time. If you are personally experiencing your own trauma, I hope you are blessed with hope and the will to “keep moving” forward. Every moment is precious and counts.

Thank you, Holly Rose Holland, for this poignant book that it is clear to see, came straight from your heart.
Profile Image for Leigh Ann.
94 reviews
March 3, 2022
I was very worried about reading this book. I recently lost my mom to cancer, so I knew I would still be raw. Also, knowing the authors husband and my mom passed from the same cancer could hit harder as well.

I’m glad I did. Reading Holly’s book, while I did get affected emotionally a couple times, felt weirdly nice to read similar experiences. While cancer isn’t rare (unfortunately), and it’s obvious we aren’t alone when a loved one is sick, it was strangely comforting to make that connection.

Holly filled this book with many tips, suggestions, and reminders of what is needed or could be useful while caring for a sick loved one. She is in Canada, so if the reader lives elsewhere, they will have to double check those same rules apply. She also included pages at the end like check lists to assist in the difficult task of preparing for and after death.

What makes this book more special, is her personal story. She shares of her husband, obviously. She shares of her sons and their responses to cancer and death. She includes her town, the medical staff, family, friends, and even school/hockey friends. She clearly had a lot of love and support surrounding her.

This book is a sweet read from someone who has been through it. She found the dark times, she hit bottom, but she learned how to get back up again. She found the light of life again. She saw that life keeps moving, and so we must also.
Profile Image for Pat Black-Gould.
Author 2 books94 followers
August 7, 2021
The author's powerful book, Keep Moving, Creating a Life after Loss, takes readers through her husband's terminal illness. She examines what this process was like for herself and her family. Holly begins this personal story with her husband's undiagnosed illness and then takes readers on the journey through his treatment for pancreatic cancer, her hopes and fears, and then the devastating loss.

Holly calls the book a “self-help guide,” as she shares with readers her insight throughout this process and her suggestions for others who may face the terminal illness of a loved one. She includes prompts and questions to help others prepare, including long-term care options, hospice consideration, and funeral arrangements.

But this is not only a book about death. As Holly states, this is a book about “surviving grief and giving yourself permission to create a life after loss."
Profile Image for Sonee Singh.
Author 5 books19 followers
June 21, 2021
A practical guide on how to deal with the cancer treatment and eventual loss of a loved one, and how to handle the subsequent grief and aftermath of loss. The book was part personal story and part self-help tale on aspects that I don’t think are widely discussed: what to prepare for, how to handle insurance (in Canada), how to handle medications, tests, and treatments, how to say goodbye, and what happens after death. It is touching and heartbreaking, and a must-read for someone wanting to better understand these types of situations.
Profile Image for K..
Author 8 books8 followers
June 7, 2023
Holly beautifully shares her family's journey of losing her husband and their two sons' father to pancreatic cancer. While heartbreaking sad, Holly balances what she experiences with hope and the importance to keep moving forward. She also provides tips and lists to help others navigate one of the hardest times in any life. It is a moving read and a good guide for others. Nicely done.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

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