Finding Chika

 

I’ve been familiar with Mitch Albom as an author and a sports commentator for many, many years, but I’ve never actually read any of his books – until now.

Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family is Albom’s personal story of how he and his wife completed their family with a terminally ill, yet highly spirited little girl from the orphanage they operate in Haiti. This book lovingly describes the time they spent with Chika, their experience with the American healthcare system for pediatric cancer patients, trying unconventional treatments, and parenting for the first time when they were in their late fifties.

Although he has a complicated relationship with God, Mitch Albom’s faith is evident all through the book. This, for me, was admirable and aspiring. In one section, Albom writes about his life before and after he penned the worldwide phenomenon Tuesdays with Morrie. Not only did it shed light on who Albom was and is as a person, it also gave subtle, but important insight on the human condition. Although I never read the book, I imagine that is what Tuesdays with Morrie is like, a book filled with life lessons. Likewise, there are plenty of nuggets of wisdom in Finding Chika as well.

In another part of the book, Albom briefly mentions the utilization of wheelchairs. He uses the word “confined” to describe someone who is in one. As a wheelchair user myself, I found this terminology unfortunate. However, like many of us, Chika saw her wheelchair as just another mode of transportation – a way of getting from one place to another. Again, this is only a very minor part of the book, but as a disabled person, I feel like I should comment on it.

Throughout the narrative, Albom perceives Chika appearing to him and encouraging him to write this book and tell their story. Admittedly, these were not my favorite parts of the book, but I did eventually learn to tolerate them.

Albom writes about Chika’s final days and months so touchingly that I couldn’t help but to be moved by the end of the book. I, of course, listened to its audio version, which was narrated by Mitch Albom himself. Happy, sad or amused, anyone listening can hear his feelings in his voice as he reads. This display of emotions only adds to the telling of this heartbreaking and heartfelt story.

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