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Rating: 
Summary: An array of emotions...
Review: A year after I sustained a spinal cord injury myself, I read Richard and Jeffrey Galli's story. I could relate to many of Richard's thoughts. He questioned Jeffrey's quality of life and wasn't sure if he wanted his son to live helplessly. I can truly say I hated some of Galli's opinions and statements... but the more I thought about it, the more they made sense. Galli speaks the truth; the brutal truth. He doesn't butter it up, but tells it how it is. At times I would get so discouraged that I made myself put the book down. I couldn't stay away long though. Galli frustrated me, brought me to tears, made me smile, and made me think. A good read for anyone who is in a similar position or knows someone who is. I admire Jeffrey's courage.
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Summary: I'm glad he's not my father.
Review: I agree with the "Rescuing Richard" review. I picked up this book hoping to be inspired by it; instead, I was disgusted by the author's audacity in his refusal to allow his son, a few months shy of 18, to make his own decision regarding life support. The author states that the boy's pediatrician was horrified to hear that the parents were considering removing life support. "You can't do that", the pediatrician says. "Your son has a viable brain." Exactly. We're not talking about a comatose or brain dead victim. Legally the author could remove life support. Ethically? The decision was clearly based on the author's opinion that his son's life was now not worth living. How tragic it would have been had he followed through with this. The arrogance of his point of view was appalling. The phrasing he chose, speaking of "killing" his son, how off-putting. Maybe this account was brutally honest about his thoughts at the time; it's clear that he saw this tragedy as more concerning him than concerning his son.
Rating: 
Summary: A very honest and heart warming story.
Review: I thought Resuing Jeffrey was a very honest story about when life deals you a rotten hand. Having gone through my own experience with my son who came down with Bacterial Meningitis and was left unable to move or speak at the age of 14 I can truly understand how Richard Galli was feeling. Not everything that goes through your mind is always pleasant. You are in store for so many things that you probably never though you would have to deal with. Rescuing Jeffrey made me cry because nobody knows how hard it is when it is your child. A very moving book.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: If ever a book forced a reader to consider the vagaries of life, and what life is all about, this is it. Moreover, I thought that Mr. Galli had an excellent writing style, straightforward, muscular and unflinching, just right for this incredibly sad story. I also thought that the notes of support from the Galli's friends and acquaintances were a real addition to the book. They show us not only the meaning of what it is to have close friends, but perhaps as importantly, how people instinctly can pull together to support and rally around those who they may not even count as close friends, but who are mere acquaintances. I did have a few very minor quibbles. One is that I was surprised that there was hardly any discussion whatsoever about how the accident actually happended. All we are basically told is that Jeffrey dove into a pool and hit his head. Well if I dive into the deep end of a 10-foot pool, I'm not going to hit my head, so that is obviously not what happened here. But what did happen? Did he "dive" into the shallow end. That doesn't seem so likely. Did he not know how deep it was? Did he not stick his arms out to break the fall? I recognize that the "how" is not the point of the book, but I would have expected to see at least a paragraph or two as to exactly what happened (or even to tell the reader that they don't actually know what happened). Second, while I thoroughly admired the way in which Mr. Galli dealt with this tragedy, I found his own self-regard somewhat off-putting. I don't mean this in the sense of how thoughts or emotions or acts in terms of Jeff's situation per se. Rather, it seemed as if, when dealing with aspects of his life not directly involving Jeff (i.e the author's pre-accident life), I felt that he was not lacking in self-praise as to his panoply of talents. I could be wrong about that of course, but that was the sense I had. Despite that, I still feel that the book is a real achievement and Jeff is lucky to have such a father.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: This is a finely written memoir of a dreadful event -- a swimming accident that left the author's teenaged son paralyzed. The story takes us over the first days after the accident -- a time when the parents are trying to balance their son's options -- and the possibility of terminating life support. This is a very moving book, and I could not help but be profoundly impressed by the son, Jeffrey, along with his family and the network of supportive friends. I recommend this book without reservation. On another, perhaps less important note, I should mention that the author is also a very good writer. It is frequent in memoir books that I overlook style because of the content. But in this case, the content was very moving, as I said; the writing was very, very good. One last comment -- I cannot help but wonder if the negative reviewers finished the book. They might be surprised.
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Summary: Shame on Richard Galli!
Review: To do justice to this book, read it with an open, searching heart. Then ask yourself, as this author did, what would YOU feel and what would YOU do if your child, an adolescent, was left paralyzed from the neck down? In those first days when your child couldn't even speak what would you think about? That's the painful situation author Richard Galli found himself facing after his son Jeffrey was paralyzed after a freak accident in a swimming pool, an accident which left him unable to move from the neck down.
This account is a heartfelt, painfully honest description of the first ten days after the accident (when Jeffrey is basically unconscious) and what many readers have found hard to believe is how Jeffrey's father could contemplate ending his son's life. But I understood how his understanding of the life his son had lived before the accident and the horror of the life his son would lead afterwards, in all their limitations, could lead him to contemplate his son's death.
In the end, it is Jeffrey himself who is the final determinant of his life or death. I won't give away the ending but simply recommend you read this one.
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Summary: Sharing Experiences
Review: When a tragedy such as the one Richard Galli experienced in his family occurs, the family is expected to nod in agreement at platitudes from well-meaning aquaintences such as , "At least he's still alive." But sometimes we're not truly glad our loved one is alive. Sometimes our love is so deep and the prognosis is so bad that we want to say, "NO!" But it is rare to have the courage to admit it if our society would be more cmfortable otherwise. Richard Galli obviously shared his feelings with rare honesty. He didn't tell a sappy story that would make us feel better. He told the truth. It is apparent that he didn't write for the popular commercial success, but for more personal and intimate reasons. Those who dare to read it with an open heart can benefit from his bravery in sharing his thoughts and feelings with no regard for what anyone not in his situation might think.
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Summary: Sharing Experiences
Review: When my son was also injured in a diving accident in 1991 just pior to his 29th birthday, one of the counselors talked with me about the variances in each level of injury... and the variances within each level. This book relates totally ... and likewise, not at all. Such injuries do encompass such huge differences and yet still create huge bonds amongst SCI families and their friends. In 1991, I didn't have the availability of all the resources that can now be found so easily on the web... this improvement in availability is an additional tool in helping us learn and in helping us share/teach; alongside the medical improvements that increase the quality of life for those in wheelchairs. The wheelchair is what people see; the reality is so much more. As a mother, I appreciated reading the reactions from the other side of the parenting role... a father's honesty and truth... I know it was not easily exposed. Different angles of perception; same levels of love. Thank you, Jeffrey, as your father wrote... for sacrificing your privacy so he could tell the story.
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