At 57 years old, John Kerastas thought he was the poster child for 50 year old healthiness: he competed in triathlons, rode 100 mile bike rides and ran half marathons. Then he discovered that he was partially blind due to a brain tumor.

This memoir explains how he coped with the emotional roller coaster ride stemming from a series of brain tumor operations both successful and unsuccessful. And while there is nothing funny about having a brain tumor, like Roberto Benigni’s movie, Life is Beautiful, his memoir explains how he used humor to remain sane when confronted with the insanity of a brain tumor the size of his wife’s fist.

He says that "I used to think that my journey was more of a marathon than a sprint because it was long and hard. I was wrong. It was more like a steeplechase than a marathon. While the race was long and hard, every so often I tripped on a hurdle and fell on my face in the mud. Each time, though, I tried to laugh at myself, shake off the mud, and get back in the race."