Review Corner: Love Never Quits by Gina Heumann #review #memoir

Title: LOVE NEVER QUITS: SURVIVING & THRIVING AFTER INFERTILITY, ADOPTION, AND REACTIVE ATTACHMENT DISORDER
Author: Gina Heumann
Publisher: MadLand Press
Pages: 246
Genre: Memoir

BOOK BLURB:

WHACK… At three in the morning Gina was sound asleep, yet somehow she was smacked in the head. She looked over at her husband, thinking perhaps he accidentally rolled over and flopped his arm on top of her, but he was sleeping soundly and facing the opposite direction. She turned to the other side and glaring back at her was her eight-year-old child.
“Did you just hit me?”
“Yes, and I’d do it again.”
“Whyyyy?”
“Because you took away my video games.”
“That was EIGHT HOURS AGO. And you’re still mad about it?”
“I wish I could kill you.”
This is the true story of the hell one family lived through parenting a child with reactive attachment disorder, a severe diagnosis related to children who experienced early-childhood trauma.
This inspirational story covers over a decade of daily struggles until they finally found resolution and made it to the other side. The family remained intact, and this once challenging son is now achieving things never thought possible.

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When I first requested a copy of Gina Heumann's new memoir, Love Never Quits, there was a motive behind it. My daughter has been trying to conceive for 4 years and she's now approaching her 41st birthday with still no luck. I've suggested adoption but she doesn't want to hear it. Rather - she doesn't want to give up trying to have her own child instead of someone else's. Love Never Quits opened my eyes to adoption even though her second adopted child was born with RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder). I have never even heard of this disorder, but should parents end up with a child with RAD, what steps do they take to live with it?

We follow the life of Gina Heumann and her husband's journey trying to have children the 'regular' way with no positive results and they end up adopting. The author often stated she didn't feel adoption was giving up but instead something that she felt was right. Her husband was a little hesitant, but did come on board to help the family expand. Their first attempt went smoother than they thought it would. It was the second child that tested their limits as parents (read the book blurb above). Gina Heumann was/is a courageous determined soul.

After countless visits to doctors - anyone they could find to help their son - they came upon a doctor who told them the child had Reactive Attachment Disorder and tried different ways to deal with it. I won't give away the whole story but this is a must read. After all her second son put her through, Gina tells us about being at the end of her rope. She loved her adopted child that wasn't a question, but no one told her it was going to be like this. This story is going to stay with me for the rest of my life. Whether or not my daughter chooses to adopt, Gina's story helped me deal with the frustrations of my daughter being infertile. I possibly will never be a grandmother. Ever.

Grab a copy of Love Never Quits. It is an amazing book of one courageous but determined family.