#BlogTour #TheCracksThatLetTheLightIn #JessicaMoxham #OctopusBooks #RandomThingsTours

 

“This is a book about what happened when it felt like my life had fallen apart and how I put it back together. It’s about family, love and how to be happy despite your life turning out nothing like you planned.” 

Jessica Moxham thought she was prepared for the experience of motherhood. Armed with advice from friends and family, parenting books and antenatal classes, she felt ready. 

But after giving birth, she found herself facing a different, more uncertain reality to the one she had expected. Her son, Ben, was fighting to stay alive. When Jessica could finally take him home from hospital, the challenges were far from over. 

In this hopeful memoir, Jessica shares her journey in raising Ben, whose life-altering disability means he will never be able to move or communicate without assistance. Jessica has to learn how to feed Ben when he can’t eat, wrestle with red tape to secure his education and defend his basic rights in the face of discrimination. As Ben begins to thrive, alongside his two younger siblings, Jessica finds that caring for a child with unique needs teaches her about resilience, appreciating difference and doing things your own way. 

Amazon/Waterstones

Jessica Moxham is a writer with interest in the areas of parenting and disability. Her eldest son, Ben, is severely disabled. She writes a blog at www.son-stories.com discussing how she and her family support him with his disability. Her blog is read by parents, health professionals and educators, among others. Jessica has given lectures to health professionals on her family's experience, from small groups of students to more than 100 doctors at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. She has been interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live and has written for the Guardian on austerity and disability. She is also a qualified architect and has worked in London and the Middle East. Jessica now lives in London with her husband and three children, in the house she redesigned to suit Ben. Follow Jessica on Instagram and Twitter at @jessmoxham

The Cracks That Let The Light In

By Jessica Moxham

Review 

By

Heidi Lynn’s Book Reviews

First, I want to thank Jessica Moxham, Octopus Books and Random Things Tours for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review. 

Jessica Moxham is incredibly brave to open up her heart and share her deeply personal story in The Cracks That Let The Light In. It was a beautifully written story that will touch anyone’s heart that reads it. Jessica’s book will take you into her world and show you not tell you all the challenges she faces raising a disabled child. It is a book that will make you smile, it will tug hard on your heart strings, it will open your eyes and your mind a little more, and this book will educate you. 

I can’t even imagine how scary it must have been for Jessica to give birth to Ben! I was at the edge of my seat hoping and praying that he would be ok. There were some very intensely written scenes! 

There was a point I was fuming mad at the hospital staff and wanted to give my two cents to them! They moved Ben to another facility without telling the parents!!! Who would do that without permission??!! 

Jessica made the right call in learning how to put the feeding tube in Ben herself. It didn’t seem fun or easy but at least she knew it was going to be done right. 

My heart was so happy every time Jessica announced she was pregnant again!! Ben was such a great big brother to Max and Molly!! Max adored Ben so much!! 

It made my heart smile when Ben smiles at his Mom who sings books like That’s Not My Reindeer to him. 

My heart breaks when Ben is unhappy he sticks his lip out and pouts. 

I am so thankful that Jessica wrote her story and shared her amazing family with us readers. Jessica’s story made a profound impact on me in many ways. I too grew up with a congenital disability called Hemidystrophy (My left side of my body is smaller than the right side of my body) and I have Scolosis as a result of it. Growing up I too was made fun of and bullied. 

There is a whole section on what being disabled is and what the new meaning means. Not to mention a section for adult individuals with disabilities. This section really hit home to me more than my own situation. I even teared up reading it thinking of my Brother-In-Law who was in an accident this past summer and is paralized. So many things hit home in this one section.