Meet David Langan, a man who served for over twenty years as a pilot in the United States Air Force. He met and married the love of his life halfway through his military career, raised two children, and graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a master’s in biblical studies. Now, he puts his extensive knowledge to use serving as an international pilot for a major airline while also serving at his local church and ministering beyond the pulpit.
David Langan is our March 2024 Author of the Month. In this article we’re sharing more about Langan’s book, and why we enjoyed reading All is Well: Living Through Losing the One You Love.
A Diagnosis No One Expected
Unfortunately, no family is ever exempt from hard times, which is what the Langans endured in 2020. David’s wife, Zyvonne, was a healthy, active person, having competed in triathlons and marathons, so when she felt numbness in her feet and trembling in her legs in March of 2020, they really weren’t all that concerned. When more serious symptoms involving memory and muscle coordination emerged during that summer, she took some tests to see what was wrong. On September 17, 2020, she received her results…
Zyvonne had Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a very rare brain illness that only affects one in a million people. There is no known treatment for this particular disease, and this beloved wife and mother was given less than six months left to live. Yet even during this time when faith was most certainly shaken, sadness would seem nothing but prevalent to feel, and life would not seem to have any light left, all one reads within David’s words can be summarized into one: love.
True Love on the Page
All Is Well: Living Through Losing One You Love is a compilation of emails, texts, and journal entries written during Zyvonne’s last two months on this earth as her disease progressed faster than anyone could imagine. The way Langan has written this memoir is equal parts raw, powerful, and loving as he delves into his thoughts and emotions. Within moments, any reader can hear the incredible love he had and continues to still have, even after death, for his wife, knowing she is in good hands with the Lord.
What David Langan Got Right Through His Writing
When it comes to writing about any trauma that has occurred in life, whether it is loss, abuse, or anything else, it can be difficult to write about. It can bring up bad memories or cause a writer to slip into negative emotions or thoughts that could come out in their writing, which, in turn, readers feed off of.
Mr. Langan had to relive a time that many would not wish to remember, yet he does so with so much love in his heart. Instead of solely focusing on hurts and struggles, he relives the times he and his wife got to spend with their children and loved ones (even with the COVID-19 pandemic going on), how blessed they were by fellow churchgoers who prayed and brought over meals, and how they celebrated even the smallest of victories like taking a walk. And while it must have been hard to relive certain moments, his story is one he wishes to use to help others who have been or are currently going through such an experience themselves to find strength and hope.
Where to Purchase
David Langan’s All Is Well: Living Through Losing One You Love is published through Mill City Press, an imprint of Salem Author Services.
That’s a beautiful article. Zyvonne was my neice and while it was so hard to read this book and I cried all the way through it, I love to recommend it especially to people going through it now.
Besides that he is family, I think this is an extremely important book.