Close to-Demise Experiences Present Writer a New Lease on Life

Laborious Discount by Donald G. Denihan with Jon Land

What’s It About?

For Donald Denihan, it was speculated to be the fishing journey of a lifetime. As an alternative, it ended up almost costing him his life in a tough discount he made with the ocean. Close to dying experiences have been nothing new to this profitable actual property entrepreneur, although.

“Life isn’t tied with a bow, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a present.”

That nugget was the final merchandise in an inventory of 45 life classes provided by Regina Brett, legendary newspaper author for the Cleveland Plain Seller.

It’s additionally the final sentence in Donald G. Denihan’s new e-book Laborious Discount (Stillwater Press), greatest described as half gripping true journey story and half self-reflection on how three near-death experiences helped him get a greater grasp on what is admittedly essential in life.

Brushes With Demise

Whereas Denihan did in actual fact have three life-threatening occasions in his life, Laborious Discount focuses on two: an accident on a duck searching journey near residence as a youth, and a fishing journey within the Bahamas that goes haywire.

When a rifle inadvertently goes off hitting Denihan within the foot whereas out duck searching, first there’s the matter of one way or the other getting assist and discovering his means again to security, after which within the hospital issues floor that stretch the impression past his foot. “I drifted out and in of consciousness, however my first lucid reminiscence was of asking anybody if I used to be going to die. Nobody would reply me.”

Rehabilitation gave the younger boy ample time to ponder his destiny. For one factor, he found the worth of friendship, as way more classmates got here by to go to than he ever would have anticipated. Whereas it’s laborious for an adolescent to course of, he additionally began to wonder if he had taken life as a right and started to defy his medical consultants’ opinions and obtain bodily targets past expectations.

A Non secular Awakening

Additionally, it was a non secular awakening. “I needed to embrace and settle for my religion with out preconditions and never see believing as a transaction between me and God. That may have been an particularly heavy raise for a 16-year-old boy who’d been wheeled into the hospital however not so for a 16-year-old boy who was wheeled out.”

The center of the narrative, nevertheless, skips to Donald as a grown man, profitable in actual property and the lodge trade, about to embark on a fishing trip that takes the creator, his pricey buddy Gene, and their information Alfred to a distant island 30 miles off the mainland in a small skiff in the hunt for bonefish.  

The story unfolds like a Hollywood catastrophe film. Solely distinction: this one is all too actual. 

“The wind had kicked up one other notch, and the rain had changed into a light-weight mist. It cooled me off after the nice and cozy adrenaline rush I felt after battling the bonefish, however I didn’t assume Gene seen the climate.”

That gentle mist turns into torrential rains and winds. Out of fuel, with restricted communication and skill to see, and bobbing within the chilly waters after their boat capsizes, the three wrestle to outlive. Not the slightest trace of rescue. Will all of them make it?

As soon as once more, this time, in way more compromising circumstances, hanging on to a part of their skiff for pricey life, Donald is reflective, making an attempt to clean away his bodily problem, replicate on the goodness of his life, and discover peace.

“A helpless feeling comes over you whenever you’re on the water getting battered by a storm. You begin to grasp the superior energy of the ocean…I felt the primary twinges of despair creep into my coronary heart…With no different choices, I started to wish quietly.”

Willpower to Assist Others

In a while, the traumatic incident prompted Denihan to wish to assist others in dire straits, in conditions and situations that may have been out of their management. So he created the God Is Good fund, a 501© (3) to assist folks in want. The fund allowed for the rebuilding of houses and lives for a number of needy households.

Laborious Discount, named, by the way, after the capital of Moore’s Island, the place Denihan went to fish, is an thrilling true journey made extra impactful by the teachings introduced to and by the creator. Readers will get caught up not solely within the story however in getting a behind-the-scenes snapshot of how an individual behaves, thinks, feels, displays and responds in instances of nice misery.

Your complete expertise helped Denihan put issues of their correct perspective. 

“Too many individuals wish to put a greenback signal on all the things, perceiving all the things as transactional as an alternative of putting the best worth within the relationships and interactions that outline us as folks. You possibly can’t put a greenback signal on love, or happiness, or household, or friendship, or loyalty, however they’re price greater than something that comes with a price ticket connected.”

Now there’s a message that’s priceless.

Publish Date: 4/8/2024

Style: Biography, Memoir

Writer: Donald G. Denihan with Jon Land

Web page Rely: 220 pages

Writer: Stillwater River Publications

ISBN: 9781963296358