Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite

She is My Child: What My Daughter’s Medical Journey Taught Me About Faith, My Heavenly Father, and Flying Standby by Tammy Coulter is a non-fiction Christian memoir in which the author details years spent through the trials and tribulations of life while seeking help for her daughter Ava's Morquio Syndrome. Morquio is a rare genetic disorder that Ava was diagnosed with before the age of two, and Coulter is profoundly honest in how shaken her faith was as she grappled with the news and the fact that not only was there no cure, there really was no treatment either. While many parents get up and take their kids once a week to soccer practice, Coulter was shuttling Ava on weekly flights between Atlanta and Chicago for experimental treatment. In the same way that Coulter determined the need to trust in the medical community because she could not do it alone, she also doubled down on her commitment to God, putting her trust in Him for the very same reason: she could not do it alone.

I admit that when I started reading She is My Child, I really had trouble seeing how I could come out of this book with a smile in my heart. In fact, I was looking down at the floor wondering how the heck I could even piece the shattered bits of my heart back together. Yes, Tammy Coulter writes of the journey of Ava, herself, and her family with God at the forefront, but in reading that Morquio lacks meaningful treatment and a cure, it was so hard not to look up and ask, “Who the heck is driving this thing?” The parts where Ava is physical are the most difficult. Looking at your child while she sobs and is barely able to get out that she is angry because she had to have surgery, that's tough. What I loved most though is how these heavy moments are pit stops between moments of levity and a deep, deep faith in God. The writing is beautiful and genuinely engrossing, and Coulter pulls us in from the word go. I now feel like I am a part of Ava's journey too and am certain all others who read this book will feel the same. Very highly recommended.