Living with pain without going crazy: Reflections on a life marked but not defined by pain

In Living with Pain we witness Mark’s disarming honesty, deeply reflective, and unapologetically pragmatic personal rendition of the experience, challenge, meaning and responses to living with chronic and often acute pain. Mark’s writing offers an uplifting, embracing and refreshingly empowering acknowledgement and understanding, that wraps itself around you, like a cloak of warm encouragement, as you receive it. A vibrant non-heroic courage animates every single sentence in this book. Most of all, Mark’s humanity, deeply felt love of life and enduring love; and his unsentimental yet love-filled commitment to the people around him, is, even in the midst of the most unimaginable pain, a strong testimony of hope and a living expression of a well-examined faith. This book is ostensibly about living with pain - and that it is. But it is much more than that. It is about living in joy, regardless of (and while respecting) the challenges of pain. Far from being solely for the unwell and the chronically pain stricken who may be at risk of suffering and hurting alone, this is a book for all of us. (Anthony Kasozi) It is a huge privilege for me to be friends with Mark since many years and to have the chance to accompany him on his challenging life path. He teaches me that inner joy and spreading love in this crazy world is not a question of health and performance, but rather a question of inner mind-set and of receiving and accepting grace. I experienced Mark in great sadness and tremendous pains, but never in bitterness. He is a role model to me, my husband and to many others! (Irene Abderhalden)