Product Description

Who would think open-heart surgery at the age of 25 could be funny! Hilariously funny.

Take Heart! True Stories of Life, Love, and Laughter chronicles the challenges faced by Rudy Wilson Galdonik, motivational humorist and heart patient. Whether it’s the challenge of having $40,000 worth of "stuff" in her chest to keep her heart ticking (that's the uninstalled price of 2 mechanical heart valves, a pacemaker, bovine patch, assorted leads and a pacer wire named Emily), being an off-the-wall animal lover or just a Yankee living in the Deep South, Rudy keeps readers in stitches while she encourages them to see the funny.

If you’ve ever caught yourself ogling at your neighbor’s trash, or considered your pet a four-legged child, or tried to pass as genteel and failed miserably, then consider this book. If you select doctors based on sex appeal, dance with the finesse of a spastic robot, or know someone who drives The Ugliest Car in the World, then this book is a definite must-read. Rudy writes like most people think, but are afraid to admit. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll see yourself over and over on every page of these hilarious and often times poignant stories.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1073480 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 197 pages

About the Author
Hailed as the Erma Bombeck for the 21st century, Rudy Wilson Galdonik is a menopausal mom with an attitude. A tad shy of bionic, she is a lifelong heart patient with $40,000 worth of "stuff" in her chest (that’s the uninstalled price of two mechanical heart valves, a pacemaker, assorted leads, wires, and a pacer wire named "Emily").

Rudy’s writing career began in the third grade when, filled with a passion to write, she began her Great American Novel. By page 4 she was bored to tears and her masterpiece was eventually thrown out along with Rudy’s extensive collection of airline throw-up bags by her mother, whose own passion was cleaning.

In 2001, Rudy’s 16-year-old son, Brad, decided to solo-hike the Appalachian Trail. Rudy’s role as the heart-patient mom, was to function as Drop Box Coordinator, keeping Brad supplied while he was on the trail, and write e-mail updates to all the people who wanted to be kept informed of Brad’s hiking progress. Early on, Rudy was fired from her job of Drop Box Coordinator after she repeatedly mailed 30-pound packages of food to her ultra-light hiker son. But her e-mail updates grew in popularity to weekly updates of readers as far away as Australia.

In 2003, Brad set out on the trail again. This time setting the world record for solo-hiking the 2,650 mile Pacific Crest Trail, and Rudy once again entertained readers with her hilarious updates. At the same time she completed work on her new book Take Heart!

In addition to writing, Rudy uses humor to speak to groups. When Rudy is not writing or speaking, she is stealing treasures off her neighbor’s trash.

Customer Reviews

Faith, illness and above all HUMOR in a three way headon collision!
Rudy Galdonik has lived through a lot of painful experiences. But so have a lot of other people. What sets her apart is how she shares them in such a humorous way through her book TAKE HEART. In it she masterfully takes some of life's hardest curve balls and hits them out of the park! Especially hysterical is her story "Three's A Crowd" about her room mates during her second long hospital stay. I was laughing so hard the person sitting next to me on the plane almost called the flight attendant! This is a warm, spiritual, unbelievably funny book that you will not be able to put down. Highly recommended for you or for someone in your life who needs a little laughter.

Feeling Good
I was amazed to read a book about so many life problems, and end up feeling good at the end! The author certainly knows how to keep life in perspective, and does it with great wit. On a number of occasions I burst out laughing. I would call this a "light read" due to the sense of humor of the author. What a great example of making lemonade out of lemons!

A Five Heart Beat Rating!!!!!
One of those books that is hard to put down once you start reading. Doris Day meets Jerry Seinfeld. Multiple heart surgeries, raising a family, and experiencing widow-hood at an early age would do most of us mere mortals in. Rudy manages to take on all these experiences and give a humorous and soulful insight into dealing with life's challenges. Reading this book you go from profound sympathy to a grin from ear to ear, page after page. I used to think the heart was that thing in your body that pumps the blood around. Rudy has that unique writer's gift that can deftly story-tell the emotional heart that keeps us all going, spinning humor and inspiration from cover to cover