Versions of Us: A Memoir of Ordinary Days, Impossible Days, and What Came After - Softcover

Young, Hayley

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798176954371

Publisher: Independently published, 2026

Synopsis

Hayley Young thought she knew what motherhood would look like.

First smiles. First words. First steps. Two children, a house, a career, and the ordinary life she and her husband, Kevin, assumed was waiting for them.

Then their first son, Ben, began missing milestones. Their second son, Henry, followed the same path. Eventually, their family would learn that both boys had an ultra-rare genetic disorder called a MED23 gene defect. Neither would walk or talk. Both would require wheelchairs, feeding tubes, medications, therapies, hospital stays, and nearly every kind of physical care.

But this isn't simply a story about disability.

It's about Ben, the quiet homebody who loved music and being with his family. Henry, who wanted to be included in everything. A marriage forged through years of crises, exhaustion, ridiculous moments, and ordinary ones. And the unexpected arrival of twin daughters, Audrey and Meredith, through embryo adoption, expanding a family that already looked nothing like the one Hayley had once imagined.

For fourteen years, caring for her sons shaped nearly every part of Hayley's life.

Then, within four months, both boys were gone.

Versions of Us is the story of the family that existed before, the family that survived after, and all the versions in between. Told with honesty, warmth, and flashes of humour, it is a memoir about motherhood and marriage, severe disability and caregiving, grief and identity—and the strange reality of building a good life while still desperately missing the people who should be living it with you.

Because moving forward doesn't mean leaving anyone behind.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798176954371
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168