Book excerpt: ‘Staying Alive: Surviving Abuse, Fighting a War, and Beating Cancer – My First Twenty-Five Years’
James Curry
"Staying Alive" by Marine veteran James Curry.
“Staying Alive” by author, Marine veteran and Emmy Award and three-time Peabody Award winning journalist, James Curry is more than a memoir; it is a blueprint of survival, courage, and perseverance. Curry takes an unflinching look at his life impacted by domestic violence, savage combat, death, homelessness, isolation, betrayal, homophobia and illness, and how these life-altering experiences led him to happiness, success, and ultimately, love.
Joining the Marines at 17 years old to escape a chaotic and abusive home, Curry was unprepared for the daily barrage of blood and violence he would experience in Fallujah. Surviving that tour of duty and three U.S. Embassy postings, Curry was honorably discharge in 2008. But, like thousands of returning veterans, the mental toll would take years to process. Post-traumatic stress, homelessness, and crushing feelings of isolation and betrayal were his thanks from an indifferent military and country. During his five years of service, Curry was also living in constant fear of discovery of being gay, made more complicated by an ultimately disastrous sexual relationship with a fellow Marine. Completing his military service, Curry found himself stranded in an unfamiliar city, broke and alone. After a series of forgettable jobs, and a brief stint working for a San Diego TV station, he got his big break working as a producer for CNN. Just as the future finally looked bright, Curry received the shocking diagnosis of cancer. “Staying Alive: Surviving Abuse, Fighting a War, and Beating Cancer – My First Twenty-Five Years” is truly an extraordinary and engaging story of hope and transformation.