Review: When Force Meets Fate by Jamison Hill
When Force Meets Fate:
A Mission to Solve an Invisible Illness
by Jamison Hill
A huge thanks to the author for this review copy.
Publish Date: January 26, 2021
Kindle Edition
266 Pages
Standalone
Genres: Memoir, Non-fiction, Autobiography
A healthy young man survives a fatal car crash only to be plagued by a mysterious illness that robs him of the ability to walk, talk, and eat solid food. When Force Meets Fate is a captivating, transcendent survival story―one that forces all of us to reckon with our own mortality and the fragility of life.
At age twenty-two, Jamison Hill was a fitness instructor who could lift more than four hundred pounds. Five years later, after surviving a tragic car accident that killed the other driver, a rare disease left Jamison bedridden and too weak to hold a water glass. He spent every day lying motionless in bed, his body paralyzed by pain and fatigue, his mind hijacked by flashes of crunched metal, broken windshields, and exploding gas tanks.
After months of not being able to speak or eat, Jamison's health finally improved and he began to tell his story. When Force Meets Fate is an unflinching exploration of the human condition, notably how our strengths and limitations shape our identities, and how unexpected events can inevitably alter our perceptions. It's a story of perseverance―of sheer will and unrelenting fight―but also of overcoming life's toughest challenges through the power of vulnerability, and how freeing it can be to surrender to the unpredictability of circumstances out of our control.
My Review:
Imagine you're a young 22 years old who works out heavily on the daily and has grand plans in the fitness world, just to be thwarted by an almost fatal car accident and then severe pain with absolutely no answers coming for years. This is Jamison's story.
What a very powerful and vulnerable memoir. Jamison gives us his story in chronological order so you can really feel how things amped up over time. Trying to hide it from people, how life completely flips upside down unexpectedly, not wanting to rely on people for help and yet absolutely having to do so. Sometimes I wanted to throttle the women in his life (his exes, not his mom or sister), and sometimes I wanted to throttle him!
Some parts were hard to read but I appreciate and applaud the author for being so blatantly honest in how he dealt/is dealing with his condition. I was thrilled when there was finally an explanation for it: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) ... why are medical conditions so hard to pronounce?! The fact that he could put together this memoir (thank goodness for cell phones and technology) is amazing in itself. I'm floored at how strong he is.
The message here speaks greatly in what a person with a chronic illness endures, how easily things can change in your life, how to persevere, ask for help, find out who your true support system is and to just live. I cannot imagine how difficult this is on a day-to-day basis. And that scene where he takes off his sunglasses to look at his mom - I felt it. Thank you, Jamison, for sharing your story.
★★★★★
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