Without a Word: How a Boy's Unspoken Love Changed Everything
Written by Jill Kelly
Narrated by Jill Kelly
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Jill Kelly
I began writing in 2002 with a memoir that was a finalist for the prestigious Oregon Book Award. Since then I've been writing most days in the morning for an hour or so and am currently working on book #10. It's just so fun. I'm a big reader of mysteries and thrillers and have written three of my own. I also enjoy exploring the relationships between men and women, and mothers and daughters. I'm a former college professor of literature and writing who's been a freelance editor for the last 25 years. I am also a pastel and acrylic painter and I make art deco needlepoint pillows (www.jillkellycreative.com). I live in Portland, Oregon, with my four cats who do all the chores so I can be creative 24/7.
Related to Without a Word
Related audiobooks
Hope Heals: A True Story of Overwhelming Loss and an Overcoming Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 20-Month Legend: My Baby Boy's Fight with Cancer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5And Life Comes Back: A Wife's Story of Love, Loss, and Hope Reclaimed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Let's Pretend We're Normal: Adventures in Rediscovering How to Be a Family Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God Gave Me You Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Praying for Murder, Receiving Mercy: From At-Risk to At Peace; My Journey from Fear to Freedom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful Scars: A Life Redefined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Carried Me: A Daughter’s Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of My Soul - The Adoption of Christopher Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Miracle for Jen: A Tragic Accident, a Mother's Desperate Prayer, and Heaven's Extraordinary Answer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautiful Nate: A Memoir of a Family's Love, a Life Lost, and Heaven's Promises Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deathbed Confession: My Son Was A Stolen Baby! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Prison of My Own Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMade For More: An Autobiographical Novel of Faith and Promise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eight Twenty Eight: When Love Didn't Give Up Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Walking with Fay: My Mother’s Uncharted Path into Dementia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Let's Roll!: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forgiving My Daughter's Killer: A True Story of Loss, Faith, and Unexpected Grace Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life's Hard Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Two Small Footprints in Wet Sand: The Uplifting True Story of a Mother's Brave Quest to Save Her Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prayed Upon: Breaking Free from Therapist Abuse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll the Finest Girls Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I'll See You Again Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Hundred Tuesdays: What a Pearl Harbor Survivor Taught Me about Life, Love, and Faith Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Still Lolo: A Spinning Propeller, a Horrific Accident, and a Family's Journey of Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rock Needs River: A Memoir About a Very Open Adoption Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made in My Darkest Hour Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Papa, Where Are You?: Inspired by a true story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One Call Away: Answering Life's Challenges with Unshakable Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Personal Memoirs For You
Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Summer of Fall: Gravity is a bitch, but I'm still standing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Lucy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Without a Word
10 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Any Western New Yorker who closely followed Hunter Kelly's inspiring saga will find this book by Hunter's mom, Jill Kelly, to be inspiring and enlightening. The book effectively blends information about Hunter's devastating illness with a revealing personal look into the life of the Kelly family. In the process, "Without a Word" even shines a unique spotlight on some local sports milestones involving Buffalo Bills' Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. True, some readers might find the religious overtones in some parts of the book to be a bit much. But the family's strong faith is a key theme in the this remarkable narrative, a theme that cannot be given short-shrift.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book, by the wife of Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, tells the story of the Kelly family and their son, Hunter, who was diagnosed with a rare disease shortly after he was born. Jill tells how their family struggled through the difficulties and how ultimately they were able to find comfort in their Christian faith.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not being a football fan I had never heard of Jim Kelly, or his wife Jill, what initially drew me to this book was the fact that Tim McGraw and Faith Hill had written the forward, but once I read this book, I am certain I will never forget the Kelly family and the special little boy that God entrusted them to take care of! Hunter James Kelly was born on Feb 14 1997 on his fathers birthday, and at the age of four months old was diagnosed with a fatal genetic disease, called Krabbe Leukodystrophy, for which there was no cure or treatments. His parents Jim and Jill Kelly were told that he probably wouldn't live to be two years old. This was a story that I was unable to put down. I became totally immersed in reading not just Hunter's story but the Kelly's story as well. Jill opens up her heart as a wife and mother and shares the struggles and joys of taking care of a terminally ill child, while trying to maintain a marriage and take care of her other children, she shows us the true meaning of a mothers love.We also hear from Jim as well as Hunter's sisters about their feelings while struggling with the loss of their loved one. As the title suggests Hunter never uttered a word during his eight year stay on earth but thru this amazing story his life will forever be remembered.Even though this may sound like a sad story of a young boy's life cut short by illness it actually is so much more, we see a family led to God during this story. Its a story filled with hope, love, heartbreak and faith.A story I would highly recommend. Thank you Jim and Jill Kelly for sharing the story of Hunter with us! I would like to add that 50% of the proceeds of this book will go to Hunter's Hope Foundation. Hunter's Hope confronts the critical need for information, awareness, and research in response to the threat of Krabbe disease and related Leukodystrophies.Click here to go to learn more about this foundation. Thanks to Faith Words for providing me a review copy of this book. Even though I was provided a review copy of this book it in no way alters my opinion of this book.