​The Big C and Me - Life, Hope and Faith on the Road Through Cancer, by Andy Robinson
 

A reminder that life in Christ is lived boldly, even in the shadow of difficulty and that the question “What now?” is far richer than “Why me?”

The Big C and Me - Life, Hope and Faith on the Road Through Cancer
By Andy Robinson
Autumn Oak
ISBN: 9781919470108
Reviewed by: Heather Jay

There is nothing like the quiet authority of lived experience. Andy Robinson’s The Big C and Me carries that authority in every page. He writes not as someone looking back from safety, but as a man living with terminal illness in real time, asking “What now?” rather than “Why me?”

Andy Robinson is a former church pastor and founder of WayMaker, an international charity working across Africa. His reflections are humble, helpful, insightful, and moving. He does not offer neat answers or tidy resolutions. Instead, he invites readers into the raw honesty of faith lived in uncertainty, showing that hope can be held even when outcomes are unknown, and that even joy can be chosen as an act of courage. 

The text on the back of this book says it is not a book about dying well. It is a book about living boldly. How right that is, for this is a book from a man who is refusing to let fear define him and instead brings hope into even the darkest days. I love his honesty and I nodded in agreement when he said we shouldn’t define people by their cancer or other serious illness.

Andy Robinson’s voice is steady, unpretentious, and deeply pastoral. It’s also moving - I found myself swallowing quite hard at the page which offers practical support though a group for those who have serious illness and those who love them and are also going through their own dark paths. This is a man who has added a whole new dimension to his ministry, something that will speak hope and peace to those who feel they have lost both. 

I don’t know of anyone whose life has not been touched by cancer either directly or indirectly. This book offers for all a gentle testimony that is both profoundly personal and universally relevant. It reminds us that faith is not a guarantee of easy outcomes, but a companion through suffering. His ministry channels proceeds into building a medical clinic in Africa - a reminder that even in weakness, service and generosity continue.

As a footnote, Andy sent me this book with a kind note of thanks for my time. In truth, it is I who should be thanking him - for the reminder that life in Christ is lived boldly, even in the shadow of difficulty and that the question “What now?” is far richer than “Why me?”

Heather Jay works as a communications manager for Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a global maritime charity. She is currently working on relaunching her blog but old blogs can be found at tractorgirl66.wordpress.com