An abandoned building. A motivated runner. A Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer survivor.
Connor Jackson has been training for a half marathon for the past six weeks. Katie Brandt has been training to beat cancer for the past 50. When Connor discovers an intriguing secret in a tiny, abandoned building on his running route, Katie finds that the mystery is what she needs to help her get through her three-week stem cell replacement procedure. Together, Conner and Katie must find the strength to achieve their personal goals and, in the meantime, expose the many past lives that the tiny building led.
“We all want to find something amazing - some treasure - in old, abandoned places. That’s what we expect.” - Katie Brandt, cancer
An abandoned building. A motivated runner. A Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer survivor.
Connor Jackson has been training for a half marathon for the past six weeks. Katie Brandt has been training to beat cancer for the past 50. When Connor discovers an intriguing secret in a tiny, abandoned building on his running route, Katie finds that the mystery is what she needs to help her get through her three-week stem cell replacement procedure. Together, Conner and Katie must find the strength to achieve their personal goals and, in the meantime, expose the many past lives that the tiny building led.
“We all want to find something amazing - some treasure - in old, abandoned places. That’s what we expect.” - Katie Brandt, cancer
Connor Jackson
I’d run past it probably a thousand times.
An especially windy thunderstorm had covered my regular paved running trail with slippery leaves, twigs, and a few larger limbs on a late August afternoon. As I was running the trail, avoiding the more slippery sections, a door that I’d never noticed before was ever-so-slightly crooked, leaving it ajar. Mind you, I was running when I caught this dark shadow next to the door in the corner of my eye, and I almost tripped. Instead of hitting the ground, I sidestepped and took that moment to stop, pretend to tie my shoe and adjust my socks, and push my sweaty brown hair out of my eyes. I refused to be one of those guys with a man bun, but maybe I just needed to get a new haircut.
As I was messing with my shoes, I looked up at the building. It was small, probably only ten feet long by ten feet wide, a red-brick structure with a huge pole an inch away from it that was taller and thicker than any nearby telephone poles. At the tip of the pole was a piece of metal, strapped on and reaching even farther into the sky. There was a rusted chain-link fence around the building, with a few small trees and weeds within it. You could tell at one point that green plastic had been wrapped around the links, but it was long gone. The building was about fifty feet away from the trail, with plenty of trees between it and me, including a huge tulip poplar that I often noticed while running, and a bunch of maples. Breaking up the brick on the west side of the building, facing up the trail, was a wooden door with no window, adorned only by a worn doorknob. And now the hinges seemed to have broken a bit, the wood warped and pulling away from the frame about half an inch.
I was kneeling and staring for too long. A woman wearing blue sunglasses and walking a dog that looked like Lassie gave me a bit of a sideways look. I adjusted my shorts and stood up to continue running, with a lot more on my mind.
·      * *
After I got home from my three-miler, I plopped down on my couch with some water. My feline roommate, Pumpkin Muffin, plopped down next to me. We’re definitely both ploppers. He’s a fat orange tabby who doesn't like to sit on laps. My niece named him during a stint when she ate pumpkin muffins for breakfast every day. I couldn’t argue: he’s totally pumpkin color. We lived in a condo with a walking path right from my patio to the Park District trail I was just running on. The two-bedroom condos in the same development were cheaper, but this was the only one for sale with the path, so I went for the three bedroom. I guess I was also optimistic five years ago that my relationship status would change more rapidly. It’s only ever been Pumpkin and me living here, other than a few houseguests and sleepovers with my nieces.
“Pumpkin, I can’t stop thinking about this building.” He looked at me, asking with his eyes for me to continue. He was massaging both the afghan my cousin Stephanie had knitted for me and the blue microfiber of my couch with his front paws. Pumpkin was still fixing me with his kitty stare, and I knew not to pet him while he was doing his massaging thing.
“I mean, I go past it every time I run the trail, but this time the door was open,” I told him. He looked interested, which made me want to blurt out everything. “It’s an old, abandoned building that has always been really run-down. And now even more. I have no idea what it was or why it’s still standing.” By this time, Pumpkin had found a new spot on the couch and was curling up, ready for a nap, his attention no longer on my story.
“I really want to know what’s inside,” I said. “I don’t know that I’m the breaking-and-entering kind of guy, though.” I ran my hand down his back and tail and stood up. I poured the rest of my water into my wilting snake plant in the hallway as I made my way into the bathroom to take a shower. “Not that kind of guy,” I repeated to myself.
The Story That Made Us Stronger by Iris March is a novel that glistens with hope and sparkles with the endurance of the human mind and body. It's a bittersweet story told from the viewpoints of a nurse and his patient, who is undergoing treatment for cancer. A mysterious building with an unknown past draws them together into a bond as they both seek to achieve their goals.
As Connor Jackson goes around investigating the building that attracted his attention during his daily runs, Katie Brandt finds a diversion in his reports to learn more about the abandoned structure. Connor is her window to a world that is becoming increasingly distant as she struggles with the impact of cancer treatment. Connor has a loving extended family but he has inner battles and preparing for a marathon is his way to find purpose in his life beyond work and family.Â
This story is about compassion and a journey of healing. The tenderness of Connor as a nurse and Katie as a young mother fighting to get well for her family is the central theme of this book. However, the more exciting bit is the mystery of a rundown building with a strange pole. This part keeps the story moving along and connects the reader with Connor and Katie's journey. In the storyline about the building, I see a metaphor for the unknown that we always seek to unveil, to understand, and the mission that keeps us going on each day. We all need a mystery to pursue because sometimes what we go through in our mundane existence is too hard on us.
A book about illness, particularly about cancer can be melancholy but the writer brings to us Katie's struggle in the least overwhelming way possible. There is a distinct warmth flowing through the pages of the book - a subtle energy that pulls at your heartstrings, and the promise of a mystery that you want to solve. The narration is smooth and balanced, and includes cancer information and its treatment. Connor and Katie's experiences are entwined in the pages of a book where there is a thrill, a budding romance, and most importantly hope. This book brims with humanness and is an endearing read. I highly recommend it for a gentle summer evening or a bus ride home.Â