Fly A Little Higher - Sobiech

Title: Fly A Little Higher: How God Answered One Mom's Small Prayer in a Big Way

Author: Laura Sobiech

Published: Genre: Memoir
Rating: 5/5- Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.

Book Source: I purchased this book.
 
Recommended if you like: Memoir,  Books about loss/cancer

What Its About:  
 Zach Sobiech was just a teenager, barely, that spring day when he went running with his little sister. By the time he got home, his hip was aching. Assuming a pulled muscle, he let it pass. Weeks later, with the pain was still present and increasing, he went to the doctor. And life changed forever.

Zach Sobiech was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. He and his family pursued surgery.  They started chemo. They tried every reasonable therapy they could find but, when the cancer showed up in Zach's lungs,  they knew that perhaps this wasn't a fight they could win. Zach's mother, a devout Christian, could accept the loss as God's will, but she wanted her loss, and that of her family, to make a difference.  Laura Sobiech asked God to make Zach's life, and death, count for something.

A passing comment made during one of their many long road-trips for chemotherapy, that perhaps Zach should write letters to his loved ones - in case they did not beat the cancer, inspired Zach (a musician) to turn to music as a way of saying goodbye and "I existed and was important."

Sobiech wrote a little unassuming ditty called Clouds. With "heartfelt lyrics and irresistible positivity in the face of adversity", Clouds quickly caught on with friends and family and eventually with the world.  "When Zach passed away on May 20, 2013, his fans had pushed Clouds to up to #1 on iTunes, Spotify and the Billboard charts – a fitting tribute to a remarkable young man." 

Before he passed, his little ditty had given Sobiech a record contract and to record a SoulPancake video about his struggle, as well as opportunities to meet celebrities, to perform live for thousands, to record in a professional studio, and to meet and touch the lives of thousands of people who may have never known of this young boy's struggle. As well, it gave the Sobiech family the opportunity to bring some attention to the battle that is childhood cancer and to make sense of this horrible, heartbreaking loss.
 

The Bottom Line:
How does one rate such a book? It seems less about rating a book and more about rating a mother's soul.

Let's just say that Zach Sobiech was an incredible young man and his story is a "testament to what can happen when you live as if each day is your last".

An amazing read, for everyone.

Quote:

“I want to be remembered as a kid who went down fighting, and didn’t really lose.”

~Zach Sobiech