Chronic: A Sick Novel

Beta readers react: ＂If this book were a movie, the cleaners would have to mop up buckets of tears when it was over. Of joy. Of laughter. And yes, of sadness. I’m lucky I had a big box of tissues close by.＂
You cracked my heart, and then fixed it. Broke my heart, and then repaired it. Smashed my heart into smithereens, but somehow left me feeling that it was fully mended.＂
＂I don’t know if it’s because I have MS, but I laughed, cheered, and cried. Sometimes all three in the same chapter.＂ ＂You don’t have to be sick to love this book.＂
＂As a cat lover, ’kitty’ was my favorite part of a mighty fine book!＂
About the Book: Paul and Deena are friends with MS and Parkinson’s Disease respectively. They’ve found a wonderful flat renovated for people with disabilities, only they can’t afford it. Enter Albert, a former nurse with cancer, and Bolton, an athletic paraplegic. They too look at the flat, and love it. But can’t afford it. The solution? The four of them move in together. And life happens.
Paul, who has retired from motivational speaking, is motivated into accepting another talk, while working on a painting. Bolton, a former sprinter, is motivated to try out for the wheelchair racing team and wheelchair basketball team, while setting up his web design business. Deena, a former PhD student, needs help with her renovation business. Instead of helping to heal people, which he did as a nurse, Albert begins to help Deena heal houses.
Our main characters also have to sort out issues with former partners, some of whom have broken up on good terms and some on terms that were not so good, all while dealing with their maladies, and helping each other deal with their chronic issues. In short, illness and disease does not make life, which can feel and be complex when you are healthy, any simpler when you are sick. Especially if you are determined to live as full a life as possible, despite your malady. And that is just what Paul, Deena, Albert and Bolton try their damnedest to do.
About the author: Paul Lima has had MS for over 20 years, moving from relapsing remitting MS to secondary progressive MS about five years ago. He has been a professional writer all his healthy and all his sick life. It’s been more difficult when ill, but it has just meant he has had to work harder at it. Chronic: A Sick Novel: 13-chapters; 45,000 words.