This is not a story about dying.
It is a story about choosing to stay.

The Weight of Staying Alive

Fifteen-year-old Rett Reed’s life changes in an instant when a mysterious medical collapse pulls him away from the world he knows and into the unfamiliar rhythm of hospital hallways and waiting rooms. Once defined by sports, school, and certainty, Rett now finds himself struggling to understand a body that no longer feels like his own.

At the children’s hospital, Rett meets Liz, a girl whose presence brings warmth and honesty into a place usually filled with fear. Through shared afternoons, quiet conversations, and moments of unexpected laughter, the two form a connection that gives Rett something he has been missing since his illness began: a reason to feel alive again.

As Rett balances school, family, and long days at the hospital, he begins to learn that healing is not just about getting better. It is about learning how to sit with uncertainty, how to love without guarantees, and how to keep showing up even when tomorrow feels impossible to imagine.

The Weight of Staying Alive is a tender, emotionally charged young adult novel about friendship, illness, and the fragile beauty of human connection. It is a story about what it means to keep going when everything feels heavy, and about the quiet strength it takes to stay.