Recently-retired Liberty STEM Elementary School Principal Tom Walsh gratefully presented Chamber Director and friend Suzanne Shirey with the first signed copy of his new book, When Hope Overcame the Impossible: An epic story of a thirteen-year-old boy who refused the death sentence of brain cancer, at Martha’s Corner on Friday, March 5th.
Photo by Elizabeth Thompson
Walsh says Shirey deserves his acknowledgment and gratitude for inspiring him to write the book during the Chamber’s annual golf tournament in September of 2019.
“I first started discussing the possibility of writing a book about my son Isaac’s battle with brain cancer with Suzanne. My wife had just retired from her role as a teacher in Sapulpa Schools and I, too, was contemplating…leaving the education profession soon. As we discussed my future plans, Suzanne stated, ‘When you write the book, I want the first signed copy!’ My remark to her at the time was, ‘You got it! I will deliver to you the first book if it ever gets published.’”
Shirey’s light-hearted comment planted a seed in Walsh’s mind that quickly began to flourish, and which joined with his passion to spread hope to other families facing similar crises. Just a few months later, in February of 2020, he “mailed the first 4 chapters of the book to Shirey at the Sapulpa Chamber to garner her thoughts on [his] first attempt at writing [his family’s] story.”
He says that “at the time, Suzanne was the only person besides my wife who knew I was even thinking of writing this story. I never heard directly back from [her], but to my surprise, three weeks later I heard from a publisher in Tulsa who wanted to speak with me about publishing our story. The owner of the publishing company himself told me Suzanne had given him the rough draft and he felt like it was a compelling story. Thus my venture into the professional publishing world was born.”
Shirey says that Walsh gives her “too much credit,” and insists that “this book was written with the gifts from above, and his sheer determination and faith. God knew this story needed to be told, and it will bless so many others that are facing their own journey.”
Despite Shirey’s insistence that she played no part in the creation of the book, it was important to Walsh “to keep [his] promise and deliver the first signed copy of the book to the one person whom [he] credits for making [his] dream come true,” so he resolved to go to the Chamber office with a freshly-printed and signed first edition of the book to do just that.
Shirey was delighted and flattered, and said she was going to spend her weekend reading it from cover-to-cover. “I’m so excited to read it; I know your whole heart is in it!” she said when thanking Walsh for the gift.
When Hope Overcame the Impossible—An inspirational true story of a 13 year old child’s battle to overcome the carnage of brain cancer was released online at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com a few days ago. To order your copy, please visit one of those websites, or to order a signed copy and for more information on the Walsh family’s life-changing journey, please visit www.thomasmwalsh.com.
