Chasing Daylight

How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life

By: Gene O'Kelly

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

“Must the end of life be the worst part? Can it be made the best?”

At 53, Eugene O'Kelly was in the full swing of life. Chairman and CEO of KPMG, one of the largest US accounting firms, he enjoyed a successful career and drew happiness from his wife, children, family, and close friends. He was thinking ahead: the next business trip, the firm's continued success, weekend plans with his wife, his daughter's first day of eighth grade.

Then in May 2005, Gene was diagnosed with late-stage brain cancer and given three to six months to live. Just like that. Now a growing darkness was absorbing the bright future he had seen for himself. He would have to change his plans, quickly, and capture what he could of his last diminishing days.

Chasing Daylight is the account of his final journey. Starting from the time of his diagnosis and concluded upon his death less than four months later, this book is his unforgettable story.

With startling intimacy, it chronicles the dissolution of Eugene O'Kelly's life and his gradual awakening to a more profound understanding. Interweaving unsettling details of his battle with cancer with his moment-to-moment reflections on life and death, love and success, spirituality and the search for meaning, it provides a testament to the power of the human spirit and a compelling message about how to live a more vivid, balanced, and meaningful life.

Inspiring, passionate, deeply insightful, Chasing Daylight is a remarkable man's poignant farewell to a beloved world.

©2006 Eugene O’Kelly (P)2007 McGraw Hill-Ascent Audio

A guide to saying goodbye

This book is excellent and can be easily be used as a guide for those who will someday die. Listening to the author reflect on his life, he teaches the reader how to live. I enjoyed this book because it’s a good reminder to be intentional with ALL of your relationships, communications, and activities.

Thank you

Thank you to both the author and family for sharing this experience with all of this. I pray that I am able to internalize and live with the same spirit each moment each day for the rest of my life

Heartfelt book!

This book will make you look at things differently. Appreciate everything you have in life and the people around you.

Humbling

I need a book like this every couple years to ground me. Fought back tears on this one.

So powerful

This is a very deep book, highly recommend it to everyone. It reminds you about what matters in life (though I do disagree with the importance the author placed on his professional life)