![]() ![]() Ramsay doesn’t gloss over events where he has stumbled, and the end result is a clear appreciation of life filled with passion, despite its challenges.Īny good memoir helps us reflect on our own lives, and Bob makes a compelling case for appreciating those around us and making the best of bad situations, including the pandemic we continue to experience. But the essence of the book is about love, and specifically about his relationship with his wife Jean, who, I think he’d agree, makes his world a better place. In his memoir, Ramsay writes about overcoming mental and physical health challenges, ranging from drug addiction to a heart attack to stroke. It’s the enthusiasm that people seem to notice most energy directed at everything he does. And, as we learn from the book, there’s a lot more going on beyond enthusiasm for life. Bob’s one of the most positive (and, I’d suggest, inspirational) people you can expect to meet. His influence has been felt by many people, whether it’s through his writing, his teaching and lectures, being with him in a social setting like a dinner, or traveling on one of his many travel opportunities. I only wish that the book had been more linear in structure.īob Ramsay is something of a Canadian institution. This is a well-written, honest autobiography where you can feel his emotions, joys, fears, hopes, and regrets, courage, and his longtime love for his wife. They retreated from Toronto to a wilderness cottage and made it a sanctuary for their family. Jean, now age 79, had a health issue, and they both concerned about COVID affecting them in their old age. They were both in their 70s when COVID struck. She switched her role to work and write in that capacity. Jean became an advocate for people wishing to have a peaceful end to their life when they were incurable and suffering. They had a rewarding and busy social life, and her children began to accept Bob into the family. His business prospered in between bouts of illness, and he loved interacting with people. There was a long, painful recovery, his wife always at his side expressing love and encouragement. Then be had a bladder obstruction which was thought to be possibly cancerous. He actually died following a heart attack and was resuscitated on the operating table. They decided to marry, and her three teenaged children were reluctant to accept Bob, a younger man and ex-drug addict, into the family.īob was plagued with health worries and scares. They travelled worldwide, climbed mountains, trekked in Asia, and ran marathons, with Jean usually in first place for her age range. Jean encouraged him to hike, camp in the wilderness, go on kayak adventures, and feel healthier and happier. His love for an older woman, Doctor Jean Marmoreo, helped him through his darkest days of recovery, despair, and self-loathing. He was heavily addicted to cocaine and was living in a drug treatment facility in Atlanta. He found success at an early age, but at age 40, he had lost his business due to erratic behaviour and his home due to bankruptcy. He writes opinion articles for the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Huffington Post. This is a marketing and communication firm and serves as an event organizer. He is a Toronto businessman who runs Ramsay Inc. The author speaks candidly about the high and low points of his life. I wish to thank NetGalley and Dundurn Press for this inspiring story about addiction, recovery, love, death, resilience, and perseverance. ![]() Love or Die Trying is a love story that unfolded against all odds and a reflection on a life anchored between a first death and the future. But once again, perseverance and love won over fate, and today, Bob turns connection into an art form, while Jean Marmoreo is a MAiD doctor, leading her patients across the thin veil between life and death. Then one day Bob’s heart stopped, and life got much worse after it was restarted. But they married and created a very different “out there” life for themselves, climbing mountains, running marathons, and exploring the ends of the earth. The chances of this relationship lasting were zero. Starting over back in Toronto, he began dating an older woman, a doctor named Jean Marmoreo, who had three teenage kids. At forty, he lived in a drug treatment centre in Atlanta. "A ruthlessly honest memoir of love, loss, and redemption." ― WADE DAVISĪ story of addiction and recovery, love and perseverance, and a reminder that it’s never too late to start over.īob Ramsay had it all ― and lost it all, often. ![]()
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