Jenny Lisk - Future Widow: Losing My Husband, Saving My Family, and Finding My Voice

Here is a book we need: a real look into what it means to be a caregiver. By sharing her familys journey, Jenny Lisk has given us both a poignant memoir as well as a de facto guide for the otherwise uncharted waters of caring for a loved one through illness and the healthcare system. Taking us stepwise from the time of her husbands diagnosis through his wrenching and inevitable death, all while raising two kids, Jenny gives us an invaluable peek into both the practicalities and the emotional mettle such a travail can summon in a person.

BJ Miller, MD, Hospice & Palliative Medicine Physician, Author, and Founder of Mettle Health

Nobody wants to be a future widow or widower. But when that inevitability looms, you want a trusted guide to hold your hand. Jenny Lisks debut memoir is just that. You get her reports from the front lines which teach you the nitty gritty of caring for your partner, your kids, and maybe even yourself as things get tougher. You get her reflection years hence on what was really going on in those moments, and important lessons learned. Thanks to Lisk, you learn that what you are going through is normal, that you will survive it, and that you are not alone. Frank, tender, real, and ultimately optimistic, Future Widowis the ultimate gift for someone going through the unthinkable.

Julie Lythcott-Haims, New York Timesbestselling author of How to Raise an Adultand Real American

From the moment Jenny Lisks husband was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, she knew her life would undergo a tectonic shift. In Future Widow, she reveals how she navigated the often conflicting priorities of Wife and Mother and she reflects on what she might have done differently, especially if shed known the distinctive ways children grieve and ultimately heal. Lisks honesty is both compelling and instructive.

Allison Gilbert, author of Passed and Presentand Parentless Parents

In her gripping personal account of caring for her terminally ill husband, Jenny Lisk illustrates through her lived experience how to maintain hope and, at the same time, prepare for an unwanted future. Future Widowis a testament to existing in the present while anticipating the future, being graceful with ourselves when we fall short, and celebrating small victories along the way.

Justin Yopp, PhD, Psycho-Oncologist, author of The Group: Seven Widowed Fathers Reimagine Life

A profoundly moving memoir and resource, this book provides a guide for future or current widows and widowers who are parenting grieving children. Jenny Lisk gives an unflinching account of caregiving for her dying husband while raising her young children. I wish my mother had this book in 1974, after losing my dad to cancer when I was a teenager.

Mary Robinson, MA, CT, CNN Hero and Founder and Executive Director, Imagine, A Center for Coping with Loss

In this heartbreaking and heartwarming book, Jenny Lisk describes the battle of her husbands life against glioblastoma. As a physician involved in her husbands care, I was touched at many levels to be part of the story. Jenny managed to maintain her composure as a mom, wife, and professional throughout this arduous journey. This book provides valuable insights into dealing with personal loss and coming out on the other side, and shares a behind-the-scenes account of caring for a critically ill spouse that will be helpful to healthcare providers and families alike.

Charles S. Cobbs, MD, Director, Ivy Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment, Swedish Neurosciences Institute

Its been said that one persons survival story becomes another persons survival guide. With Future WidowJenny Lisk has written that and so much more. This isnt just a story of survivingits also a story of thriving.

Gina Warner, Founder, Badass Womens Book Club

Wow. Jenny Lisk writes, with honesty and even a wearying sense of humor, about how to live one life as you know that it is ending, in preparation for this new, unwanted future you would, with all your soul, ask to avoid. Her vivid, human recounting of trying to be a loving partner to her dying husband, even as her heart breaks, is riveting, real and all too relatable, the kind of stuff you tell your friend in a late-night call when no one can hear you cry. Stunning.

Leslie Gray Streeter, author of Black Widow: A Sad/Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like Journey in the Title

Jenny Lisk poignantly shares the reality her family faced after her husbands glioblastoma diagnosis.