Without a Word_ How a Boy's Unspoken Love Changed Everything - Jill Kelly [1]
Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptures are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scriptures noted KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
FaithWords
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.
www.twitter.com/faithwords.
First eBook Edition: September 2010
FaithWords is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The FaithWords name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-446-57435-8
Hunter James Kelly
February 14, 1997–August 5, 2005
Our lives are forever changed because of you.
Your bravery taught us to be bold.
Your courage made us strong.
Your humility inspired us.
Your hope encouraged us.
Your unspoken love changed us.
We thank God for your amazing life.
See you soon, little buddy.
I dedicate this book to my two daughters,
Erin Marie and Camryn Lynn.
Girls, this is for you so that you’ll never forget how
God rescued our family and how the unspoken love
of your brother, Hunter, changed everything.
I love you girls so much!
We’ll see Hunterboy before you know it.
I can’t wait!
Contents
Copyright
Praise for WITHOUT A WORD
Hunter James Kelly
Foreword by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Preface
Prologue: Beyond Words
Chapter 1 Not What It Seems
Chapter 2 Welcome Home
Chapter 3 Mr. and Mrs. Quarterback
Chapter 4 Broken
Chapter 5 Searching for Hope
Chapter 6 Change
Chapter 7 Hunter and His Sisters
Chapter 8 Hunter at One and Two
Chapter 9 Hunter at Three and Four
Chapter 10 Hunter at Five and Six
Chapter 11 Hunter at Seven
Chapter 12 Hunter at Eight
Chapter 13 August 5, 2005
Chapter 14 Memories Everywhere
Chapter 15 Unexpected Grace
Chapter 16 “My Heart Doesn’t Look the Same Anymore”
Chapter 17 Walking Through the Valley
Chapter 18 I’m Free
Chapter 19 Forever
Chapter 20 The Time in Between
Epilogue: While I Wait
Acknowledgments
Appendix A Hunter’s Hope Foundation
Appendix B The Hunter’s Hope Kids
Appendix C “Team Hunter” Memories
Appendix D Hot Chocolate with God
Appendix E Jim Kelly’s Hall of Fame Induction Speech
Notes
Foreword
Jim and Jill Kelly are some of the most courageous people we know. Their work through Hunter’s Hope on behalf of terminally ill children living with Krabbe disease is as legendary as Jim’s NFL career—and even tougher. Like the McGraws, the Kellys are all about the things that really matter in life: faith and family. There’s nothing that brings us as much pleasure as our girls and each other. Our family is a blessing, a gift from God that we refuse to take for granted no matter how busy life gets.
This is a story of love and redemption, of dreams lost and dreams found, of light in the valley of the shadow of death. It’s the story of their son, Hunter. And woven through its pages is a tapestry of joy, grief, pain, and healing as the Kellys willingly take you to a sacred place. A place hidden deep within the treasures of a parent’s love for a terminally ill child. A place few of us, thank God, have had to go.
Hunter never threw the football his father longed to toss around with him. He was unable to give his mother the hugs and kisses she ached for. And he never wrestled around with or teased his two sisters. Yet he accomplished so much more than many of us ever will. His extraordinary bravery in the face of incredible suffering taught Jim, Jill, and their children life lessons they would not have learned otherwise. Lessons that healed the deepest of all wounds and saved a family.
We were profoundly moved by the courage it took Jim and Jill to be so agonizingly honest. It is rare to find people willing to be vulnerable enough to bare their souls and open their lives to all of us so completely.