Carnival of Heaven is a combination of memoir and fiction, rooted around my true story of surviving T-cell leukemia.

For weeks Ryan has been feeling fatigued, dizzy, and confused. The doctors say it’s just the flu, but for some reason, his mom isn’t convinced. It’s hard to blame her; he’s been sleeping so often lately that Awesome Waters, the world of his dreams, has become more real than the one in which he lives. Yet, even Awesome Waters isn’t the cheerful escape it once was. Ominous clouds have taken over the luminous skies of his imaginary theme park, ushering in a masked, sinister ringmaster who’s dead set on rendering Awesome Waters to ashes.

Back in reality, Ryan finds himself in a hospital, where he and his family receive a far graver diagnosis than the simple flu - cancer. Ryan has T-cell leukemia. Mom, Dad, his brother, and Grandma: They all do their best to help him through the chemotherapy and operations. But despite their love, Ryan’s light begins to flicker. The ringmaster explains how he will fall entirely into that darkness unless Ryan can solve the mystery of the ringmaster’s appearance. If Ryan can before time runs out, then the strength to fight for his future will be his to command.