People often ask me why I wrote this book and why did I choose to start writing again?

Simply, it was my hiding place from the runaway thoughts drowning me. The Lepralites were born from my need to find something good and wholesome to change our situation, which felt very much out of my control at that time.

Maybe it was my way of trying to imagine and take ownership of a better world instead of the bowl of unknowns we were looking into every day. The doctors and professors were doing their best to deal with the facts that the test results showed them. We knew that my wife’s life was very much in their hands. It was a time for chatting with God, of which we did plenty; as we knew, a cancer diagnosis can be a lottery.

When someone close to you is fighting their medical battles, all sorts of thoughts start bouncing around one's head,

“Why her?”

To the more selfish ones,

“Why me?”

The dark hole of overthinking needed to be simplified.

So, when I held Angela’s hand while she slept, resting from her daily medication battles, I pushed my mind toward a more positive outcome.

One evening, after returning from bringing our dog for a walk, I noticed him sitting perfectly still in front of Angela. He was looking at her in a searching way, as though he knew she was very ill and wanted to help her somehow. I would love to know what he was thinking, but I am sure it was simple, good and pure. My thoughts turned to the friendships that animals offer to humans. How is it an untainted honesty from their heart, where there seem to be no filters as they do not care who is doing what and to whom? Or will my life be better if...?

I questioned whether the magic in my life was so magical every day that I was now taking it for granted.

Do I need to find a wand and wave it, then wait for the puff of lightning and flickering tiny stars to fix all my problems?

Or do I take time to notice the good around and with me?

Maybe it was the fact that I nearly lost my wife from our life that has opened my mind to all the small things around me, which all together add up to be my own life's jigsaw.

Yes, I have decided to lift a few pieces from my puzzle and redraw them as most of us have, but I am finding that the smaller pieces of my picture are the ones that keep it all intact.

Talk again soon,

Best regards from Jonathan of AngJon Hornibrook