“Hopelessness can be contagious, but hope can be too. And there is no medicine to match it.” -Mitch Albom, Finding Chika

Mitch Albom’s new book, Finding Chika, is a nonfiction story of love and heartbreak, of hope and loss, of joy and grief, all of which are parts of the normal human experience that many of us will endure as we pass through this life.

The book is about Mitch and his wife, Janine, and their journey of taking over an orphanage in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010, their own journey of childlessness, and then how they “found” Chika, a vibrant young, Haitian girl who had a rare brain cancer, called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) that mainly afflicts children and has no cure and a diagnosis of months to live after first discovered.

The book is about their journey to find a cure, the ups and downs of doctor appointments and treatments, of flying around the world to specialists, and how they cared for this young orphan who became apart of their family and they received with all of their love.

The quote above from the book came to me at a very trying time in my life. It was a time when I was down and didn’t know if I could get back up. Then there it was. Hopelessness is a very dangerous emotion that can be debilitating. It can make you think some horrible things if left unchecked. This inspirational book was a catalyst to change my thinking. To see what there really is in my life. To see that there really is hope, despite how things might seem.

Albom cites a biblical proverb in this section, which I found to be rather uplifting:

Proverbs 23:18 (ESV) – Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

Tomorrow the sun will rise. The snow outside will melt. Spring flowers will sprout up once again. Life will go on. There is a future! My hope will not be cut off!

– Jason