In Sickness and in Health: How to Keep Going When Death Interrupts Life

Julie Landry's husband, Allen, was a popular, fun-loving guy who was as serious about his calling as pastor as he was about having a good time. He had the good looks and the fashion sense of a male model but without the vanity. As a husband, he was romantic, confident, attentive, thoughtful and supportive. He was a wonderful father to their son and a good role model. He was also very, very sick, though he didn't know it until it was too late. Julie admits to being spoiled by a husband who, besides being the sole breadwinner, would bring her lemonade or watermelon to cool her in the Los Angeles heat or sprinkle their bedroom with rose petals on special romantic occasions; who took great care of their finances and who loved to dance at parties. When the couple found out that the cause of his chronic back pain was prostate cancer and that his case was terminal, their world was turned topsy-turvy. The wife who would almost struggle to apply a Band-Aid was soon forced to give shots and look for bedsores as her husband's caretaker. Though a Los Angeles native, she knew little about navigating through various parts of the city. But with Allen bedridden she was forced to better learn her way around. A novice in financial matters, she had to get familiar with handling the bills and the banking. Through a two-year struggle, from the time of diagnosis until death parted them, Julie chronicles her husband's painful decline and shares fifteen lessons she learned from her experience. She also explains facts about the silent killer that took her husband's life.