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Author Tom Zarzaca and his wife Yuko are the parents of Tomi, now almost five, who contracted bacterial meningitis when he was nine months old. This catastrophic illness resulted in a very different prospect for their son than the one they had envisioned as they watched his early, normal development. The author details a series of apparently rational, caring decisions made when Tomi got suddenly sick, that turned out to have been disastrous. Now, slammed by an average of thirteen seizures a day, having lost both his sight and his hearing, Tomi requires constant vigilance.
Written in poignant, at times poetic, bursts, this small book offers encouragement for families with similar battles to fight. Descriptions of a typical day with Tomi—screams, seizures, vomiting, paralytic straining, comatose appearance—are all unpredictable and exhausting, yet balanced by expressions of his parents' determination to care for their son (full time) and understand his experience. As the author points out, Tomi's life, though ostensibly tragic, will be devoid of some "normal" pangs and pitfalls. Words you might expect to see, like "burden" or "sacrifice," are never used in this heart-wrenching, heart-warming story.
Tom and Yuko maintain a Facebook page, "Tomi's Time," that includes recent photographs of Tomi, and the intriguing, and very hopeful, statement: "We celebrate the survival and recovery of our dear son." Tomi's Time is a tough, tearful read for anyone who loves any child, but should inspire families who, like the Zarzacas, are facing, as a loving, tight-knit unit, the challenges of the unknown.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review.