The Long Goodbye: The Kara Tippetts Story

Thirtysomething Kara Tippetts was a pastor’s wife living in Colorado with four children when she discovered a lump in her breast that turned out to be a sign of a stage 4 cancer that quickly spread to her lymph nodes, and then her brain and bones. Filmmaker Jay Lyons’s documentary describes Kara’s valiant fight to "live love large" by sharing her suffering with others. Turning her parenting blog into a chronicle of her cancer journey, Kara says that "suffering isn’t a mistake." She recounts her struggle to remain physically intimate with her husband, the futility of being angry with God, and her decision to end treatment and enter hospice care. Sometimes her counsel is unwelcome, and her attempt to reach out to a woman with a terminal brain tumor who is contemplating suicide is rebuffed. The film follows her plateaus, bursts of energy, inevitable hair loss, slow physical decline, saying goodbyes, and dealing with her greatest regret—knowing that her children must grow up without her. She takes time to write a book, and is supported by friends, her church congregation, and allies she met on the Internet, notably author Ann Voskamp and TV’s Fixer Upper star Joanna Gaines. In interviews here, Kara, who died in 2015, admits that enduring pain isn’t easy, but that faith, an appreciation for simple things, and living each day fully can help turn illness into a blessing. Extras include additional interviews with Voskamp, Gaines, and quadriplegic Joni Eareckson Tada. Recommended. Aud: P. (S. Rees)