A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney

For the daughter of a comedy writer, I have a very particular sense of humor. I do not like anything too zany, silly, or slapstick, or raunchy. I like my comedy to stem from real-life-messy-but true situations, usually romantic ones taking place in an apartment or house with walls, sometimes children. This is why the Amazon series "Catastrophe" checked all of my comedy boxes. All four seasons were created, written by and starred the platonic team of Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney. After we flew through the first season, Delaney and Horgan were on my radar and I could not wait for another season. Somewhere along my binging, I heard that Delaney had a child who was sick. As a mother of children with disabilities, this made me pause. It is that weird pit-in-my stomach feeling that took me back to those early years with my girls. My husband, Bill, and I used to sit in the waiting rooms of doctor's offices with our babies, praying for everything to be normal when it was not. "A Heart That Works" is the moving memoir of how Delaney, and his wife, Leah, and three sons delt with the illness of their littlest member, Henry. While filming "Catastrophe" in London, where the show it set, baby Henry was diagnosed with a brain tumor. As they learned to navigate the move to London from Los Angeles, they also had to juggle the new diagnosis and Rob's emerging fame at the same time. Through the trials and tribulations of medical offices and hospital stays, Rob and his family found support in the kindness of the nurses, doctors and friends they encountered along the way. Rob does not hold back from sharing the gambit of his emotions, including frustration, anger and despair. A courageous memoir from start to finish, full of grace and self-awareness that is rare in a couple facing a struggle with such a young child. To buy this book on Amazon click here.