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Count to Ten: Fly with a miracle Paperback – March 13, 2015
- Print length332 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPrecious Oil Publications
- Publication dateMarch 13, 2015
- Dimensions5 x 0.69 x 7.99 inches
- ISBN-100992943280
- ISBN-13978-0992943288
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Product details
- Publisher : Precious Oil Publications; 3rd Revised ed. edition (March 13, 2015)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 332 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0992943280
- ISBN-13 : 978-0992943288
- Item Weight : 1.09 pounds
- Dimensions : 5 x 0.69 x 7.99 inches
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Born in Cape Town beneath the towering slopes of Table Mountain, married to mining engineer Colin Belshaw and mother of Colin, Peter and Andrew. Sheila is a "swallow"; she lives from November to May in Cape Town, and May to November in the Mediterranean island of Menorca, with the odd month in the spring and autumn at her home in Wilmslow, England. She has books published under the names of Sheila Belshaw, Sheila Mary Taylor (her maiden name), and in the literary world is also known as Sheila Mary Belshaw. She is also an amateur photographer and posts photographs on FaceBook and Twitter every day.
All her books are available both as paperbacks and e-books. Her psychological legal/crime thriller set in Manchester, UK - 'Pinpoint' - by Sheila Mary Taylor has been featured in the Amazon.com Kindle top 100 Mystery/Crime Bestseller list several times. The book trailer for Pinpoint is : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7Ou3N7hx8Q. Her inspiring best-selling memoir, 'Fly With A Miracle' - first published by Denor Press in 1999 - about her son Andrew's heroic battle against teenage bone cancer, is now available in an updated revised edition with the new title of "Count to Ten", by Sheila Mary Taylor, published by Bardel Publications. 'Fly With a Miracle' was featured in the South African TV programme, Carte Blanche. The link to the YouTube of this is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N5lqabFxf8.
'Dance to a Tangled Web' - first published in February 2013 - is a romantic drama set in London and Menorca, and her latest romantic drama is 'Golden Sapphire', set in the Queensland Gemfields and in London. All Sheila's fiction is set in places she has lived in permanently, or knows very well. Her novella - 'Eldorado' is set in Ghana, where she and her husband lived for three years. Sheila loves writing romantic novels and has four romances published which are out of print at the moment, but will soon be available as e-books on Amazon.
With her editing hat on, Sheila recently resurrected and edited three of her late mother's unpublished novels - 'Kathie', 'Don't Tread on My Dreams', and 'Rage of Life' by Dora Taylor, which were published in 2008 and 2009 by Penguin, 33 years after her mother's death, and are available on Amazon. Dora Taylor subsequently won the South African Posthumous Literary Award for these, which Sheila received at a glittering awards ceremony in Johannesburg.
Customer reviews
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Customers find the book easy to read and engaging. They appreciate the author's clear depictions of the horrors of cancer. The story is described as amazing, interesting, and a story of hope and love.
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Customers find the book well-written and easy to read. They say it's a riveting read that captures their hearts with the author's clear depictions of the horrors of war.
"...glues you to the page but this is only possible when the quality of the writing is superb...." Read more
"...The book is an easy read and I think could be made into a movie about survival against all odds, advances in medicine that at the time were leading..." Read more
"...The talented author captured my heart and soul with her clear depictions of the horrors of cancer and chemotherapy...." Read more
"...Count to Ten' is a brilliant book, written so well that the reader takes each step of the way along this journey with the mother, the author...." Read more
Customers find the story engaging. They appreciate reading true stories about young people overcoming adversity. The book is described as a story of hope and love.
"...A story can be so gripping that it glues you to the page but this is only possible when the quality of the writing is superb...." Read more
"A very interesting story of a young (teenage) boy struggling with cancer and the very likely amputation of his leg--as told by his mother,..." Read more
"this is an amazing story. I like reading stories that are true. It should be the goal of every one to read this story" Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2012That Sheila Mary Taylor is a hell of a writer I already knew from reading her thriller Pinpoint. But everyone with some writerly genes can understand that tackling a private drama of this magnitude is something completely different from roaming the realms of the imagination. And then turning that most difficult phase in your family's life - a medical story(!!)- into a pageturner shows the true fortitude of this author.
Every book that throws back at us the question: what would I have done in that situation? serves the greater purpose because it involves us, it makes us look at our own human state, makes us wonder if we too are made of the stuff heroes are made of, vulnerable heroes, like Sheila and Andrew and the rest of their family but heroes no doubt. Heroes trust in love, cling to their dreams, persevere and believe others will come to their aid with much needed expertise. Heroes don't complain, don't blame, don't get stuck in negativity. So despite the heaviness of the material this is a positive book, and it brings a hopeful message. Even on the darkest episodes Mrs Taylor has shone her loving light. I have cried mostly for the power of that love, which lacks in many places on this earth while it is so normal and needed.
I just found one question unanswered. What happened to Andrew's pots for posterity, which his mother so arduously hurried across the streets of London? :-)
A story can be so gripping that it glues you to the page but this is only possible when the quality of the writing is superb. Also is this respect Count To Ten is a polished gem.
Like others I want to thank Mrs Taylor for sharing this dark cloud in her family's history with us and for showing us how such a process can and should be approached. Truly an example to cherish and pass on. Do read Count To Ten!!!
- Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2017Brilliant! I could not put this book down. I was riveted by the suspense in what is a true story of survival against all odds. I enjoyed reading about the vivid imagery of numerous locations in the UK, Menorca and Zambia that this family had as part of their lives, and that acted as different backdrops for the sequence of events in this real life drama of how a family and close knit friends endured the stress of the unknown and whether Andrew would survive, beat cancer and not lose his leg. I was super impressed how Andrew won through, and fought bravely to overcome his disability and achieve his dreams to become a pilot and have a career in the Royal Air Force and the commercial airline industry. The book is an easy read and I think could be made into a movie about survival against all odds, advances in medicine that at the time were leading edge and experimental procedures with no track record to know whether they would succeed or not.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2013A very interesting story of a young (teenage) boy struggling with cancer and the very likely amputation of his leg--as told by his mother, interspersed with her son's journal entries. It is a story of intense suffering, a story of hope, and a story of love. It definitely arouses sympathy and amazement in the reader. One more fully appreciates what he has. And is thankful.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2016Count to Ten is a heart-breaking memoir of a mother suffering together with her eighteen year old son who has cancer, osteosarcoma. The family struggle with the agonizing pain Andrew has to endure. When a child becomes ill the stress and agony threaten the whole family. Sheila Mary Taylor relates the process of discovering her child has cancer, of probably having to have a leg amputated, the excruciating pain the young boy has to endure, the family is also torn apart by the separation -the father remains in Zambia, the mother goes to London and then Manchester to be at her son's side.
I was horrified, throughout the memoir, at how much pain and suffering the boy and his family had to endure. The talented author captured my heart and soul with her clear depictions of the horrors of cancer and chemotherapy. She gave a profound account from the beginning to the end.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2012When your healthy, active child is diagnosed with cancer, what's your first reaction? If you're like most most people, you panic. That was Sheila Taylor's first reaction when her bright, athletic, dreams-of-being-a-pilot youngest son saw a doctor for a nagging pain in his knee and was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. He could lose his leg and he could die. What would happen to his dream of being a pilot? What lies ahead for his parents and his two older brothers? How will the family handle it, especially since the treatment is in England and his parents live in Zambia?
In her book, Sheila Taylor takes you with her and her family as her youngest sons is diagnosed, undergoes a series of chemotherapy treatments, has surgery on the infected leg, has more chemotherapy and keeps his leg and learns to walk again. But will he ever fly an airplane? Amazingly, yes.
If your child has been diagnosed with cancer, or you know someone whose child has, this is a book to recommend to them, or give to them as a gift. It's not an easy journey, and Sheila Taylor doesn't try to make it so. It's a testament to her son's never-give-up spirit, the skilled physicians who treated him, and a family who loves and fights for him.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2012Her eighteen-year-old son has a persistant pain in his leg, and thus begins a journey of pain, suffering, hope and courage.
'Count to Ten' is a brilliant book, written so well that the reader takes each step of the way along this journey with the mother, the author.
I can't tell how much I admire Sheila for sharing the story of herself and her son.
Top reviews from other countries
- Vincent RodriguezReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2012
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational, unputdownable!
Count to ten is an uplifting, well crafted and compelling read. Themes of cancer, amputation and parental despair are rarely described as page turners, but Sheila Taylor has expertly woven the true story in a such a way as you will find your eyes glued to the page. They will probably be streaming with tears, but unblinking nonetheless.
When teenage Andrew, who harboured dreams of being a pilot, was told he may lose his life and probably his leg he responded in a remarkable way. He asked the questions that few of us could even imagine and with the love of his family he found the strength to continue.
The title comes from a note written by his father after the surgery that saved his life. "I have counted your toes, and there are ten", which is enough to loosen the tear ducts of most parents. What follows is the most inspiring, emotional and ultimately heart-warming tale of love and hardship.
Author Sheila Mary Taylor shows her talent for writing go far beyond crime fiction, as she takes the reader on this extraordinary journey. I thank her for baring her soul and sharing this story.
As you have probably gathered, I highly recommend this book. It really should be read by many, many more people than it is likely it will be!
- G. McCulloughReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2012
5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing page-turner
The amazing thing about this book is that it is not sentimental or sad. Instead, it is inspiring, vividly written, and is just as much a page turner as Sheila Mary Taylor's very successful thriller Pinpoint. The terrifying Prologue sets the tone for the rest. The reader is gripped, mesmerized, and hooked. It's impossible to stop reading.
The characters and settings, as always with this writer's work, contribute their own special magic to the story. The triumphs and the despair which race hand in hand through the pages leave us as breathless as any thriller. Time and again Ms Taylor takes us to the brink and then pulls us back. This is a book you mustn't miss.
- WhyBirdsReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2012
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read
This wasn't about a mostly NHS jouney but a jouney through private health care and the best mendcine so its a typical NHS cancer story but it is written well without giving anything anyway in places it seems to drag abut it held onto my attention its got a good ending so dosnt leave you hanging and I didnt struggle to understand things at an any point. It tells the truth and dosnt try and glorify anything.
- NALReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 23, 2012
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking
As a parent do any of us know how we would cope if one of our children is taken seriously ill? Count to Ten allows us to share a mother's deep feelings when one of her sons is diagnosed with cancer (osteosarcoma) at a very young age. It takes us through a very long journey, its bad and good moments, the highs and lows - of which there are many - and allows us to really feel a mother's love but also the competing emotions that such an experience brings with it. Count to Ten is an outstanding and heart-rending account from start to finish. You live and share each of the moments and in so doing you are allowed into the private lives of the mother, Sheila, and the son, Andrew. You get to know both mother and son so well, but equally importantly, as a parent it makes you question your own ability to care even when you are at your lowest ebb. Count to Ten is a true story of personal courage and must be read by all parents who believe they really care but especially by parents who might be going through an equally traumatic experience.
- Brendan GisbyReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2012
5.0 out of 5 stars I Thank My Lucky Stars
When I first read Bob Ruark's "Uhuru" back in the 1960's, I was struck by the way the author was able so skilfully to use words to convey his deep love of Africa. I don't know whether Sheila Mary Taylor has ever been influenced by Ruark's writing, but I found the same quality in this book. Sheila's passion for that vast and mysterious continent shines through in her words, as does her utterly unqualified love of her youngest son, Andrew.
Although it begins and ends in Africa, "Count To Ten" is not about Sheila's beloved land. It narrates the struggles of Andrew, whose athletic young body was ravaged by cancer when he was still in his teens. It's a medical drama, to be sure, but unlike most stories of that genre it's not written in soap opera fashion; there are no grand, sweeping scenes in this book. Instead, it tells Andrew's harrowing story factually and precisely, warts and all - the tantrums and the tears, as well as the triumphs - and it makes riveting reading as a result.
I cast my mind back to when I was eighteen, the age when Andrew contracted cancer, about the same age when I first read "Uhuru". I ask myself how I would have reacted if I had been told that my strong, lithe, perfect body had been contaminated, that I would almost certainly lose a limb, that I might even die - and I thank my lucky stars that I don't have to answer my question.
And Andrew? Well, he should also thank his lucky stars for being so fortunate to have a mother like Sheila and a father like Colin.