New Book Compiled from Journal of ALS Patient Releases During National Family Caregivers Month

A timely book released during National Family Caregivers Month offers rare insight into the personal day-to-day struggle of a man dying of Lou Gehrig's Disease. His widow edited over 1000 pages of his online diary entries into the new book, NOBODY TELLS A DYING GUY TO SHUT UP.

For me, facing the fact that David was actually dying and then having to function each day in that knowledge was the biggest challenge.

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) November 11, 2009 -- A new book chronicling the journal of an ALS (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig’s Disease) patient has just released during National Family Caregivers Month. Edited by his widow Beth Chilcoat, NOBODY TELLS A DYING GUY TO SHUT UP is an honest and personal diary kept by David Chilcoat who succumbed to the disease in 2006 after a three-year battle. Beth Chilcoat is now featured on a special interactive section on the New York Times website known as Healthguide Patient Voices. Beth's story is one of only six interviews conducted with ALS patients and family members for the Healthguide Patient Voices: ALS feature.

Nobody Tells a Dying Guy to Shut Up

Beth says the most difficult challenge as Dave’s primary caregiver was adjusting to the prognosis. “For me, facing the fact that David was actually dying and then having to function each day in that knowledge was the biggest challenge,” she says. “Finding a way to continue to live instead of beginning to die required a deeper level of moment to moment reliance on my faith than I had ever needed before.”

For more than a decade, the Chilcoats worked with Young Life, a worldwide ministry dedicated to working with adolescents and helping them grow in their faith. David and Beth helped to establish the Young Life chapter in the Columbus, Ohio area that today is headed by one of their sons, Michael. David later went to law school and practiced law for over 25 years before his diagnosis of ALS in 2003. Together, the Chilcoats raised a family of four children and have nine grandchildren.

Though Beth had entered the publishing world before as a cookbook author, she was reluctant to take on the challenge of editing David's online blog journal that was read by thousands of people across the globe. In compiling the book, Beth chose the title from a phrase that David used often: NOBODY TELLS A DYING GUY TO SHUT UP. It began as a difficult process to relive the three-year ordeal, but Beth wanted the book to be a comfort to families going through chronic illnesses and on-going health issues. She offers advice to spouses and loved ones who are thrust into the caregiver role.

“Live life to the greatest extent you can with your circumstances and the limitations of your health condition,” says Beth. “We traveled some and I treasure those moments as some of my most precious times with David. And don’t be afraid to accept help that is offered when it will truly aid your situation. Family, friends and our church members wanted to help, and we welcomed the meals, errand-running and assistance at night. They were a precious gift to us.

"From the worst days of intense pain and fear to the days when we were able to laugh in spite of it all, this book is a forthright, honest struggle of a man wrestling with his own death. My heartfelt desire is that it becomes a beacon of hope and encouragement to people who face equally dire circumstances. The reality is we are all on a journey toward death. The only difference for us was that Dave and I had a defined timetable. And we did the best we could to make the most of our time together."

Beth is currently scheduling speaking engagements for seminars entitled "Life in the Valley" to help equip people who face difficult challenges. For more information, visit: BethChilcoat.com.

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