The true story of a man who should have died many times. La historia real de un hombre que debería haber muerto nueve veces.

I Died Nine Times. Love Brought Me Back. Morí Nueve Veces. El Amor Me Trajo de Vuelta.

Amazon #1 New Release #1 Nuevo Lanzamiento en Amazon
Buy on Amazon Comprar en Amazon
Nine Lives. One True Love — book cover by Lester Keizer

Spread the Story Comparte la Historia

Share This Journey Comparte Este Viaje

Inside the Story Dentro de la Historia

Seven Moments That Shouldn't Exist Siete Momentos Que No Deberían Existir

🌴

A childhood survival in the jungles of Borneo Supervivencia infantil en las selvas de Borneo

🏹

Poisoned arrows and tribal warfare Flechas envenenadas y guerra tribal

🎸

An unexpected friendship with Eric Clapton Una amistad inesperada con Eric Clapton

🏛️

Boardrooms connected to Donald Trump Salas de juntas conectadas con Donald Trump

🫀

Open-heart surgery that should have ended it all Cirugía a corazón abierto que debió terminar con todo

🔬

Liver cancer and a life-saving transplant Cáncer de hígado y un trasplante que salva vidas

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A private battle with depression that nearly won Una batalla privada contra la depresión que casi gana

"So many memoirs flatten a life into a highlight reel. Yours doesn't flinch."

"Tantas memorias reducen una vida a un resumen de mejores momentos. La tuya no se aparta de nada."

Duane Hallock, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer, Red Cross Duane Hallock, Director de Comunicación y Marketing, Cruz Roja

Author Spotlight Reflector del Autor

From the Captain's Bookshelf Desde la Biblioteca del Capitán

New Release · September 2, 2026 Nuevo Lanzamiento · 2 de Septiembre, 2026

Nine Lives. One True Love.

I Died Nine Times. Love Brought Me Back. Morí Nueve Veces. El Amor Me Trajo de Vuelta.

My father survived a Japanese prison camp…

Mi padre sobrevivió a un campo de prisioneros japonés...

Why This Book Matters Por Qué Este Libro Importa

  • A father who survived a Japanese prison camp during World War IIUn padre que sobrevivió a un campo de prisioneros japonés durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial
  • A childhood spent in the jungles of New Guinea and BorneoUna infancia vivida en las selvas de Nueva Guinea y Borneo
  • Poisoned arrows, exploding bridges, and tribal warfareFlechas envenenadas, puentes que explotaban y guerras tribales
  • Four marriages, painful mistakes, and one true loveCuatro matrimonios, errores dolorosos y un amor verdadero
  • Open-heart surgery, liver cancer, and a liver transplantCirugía de corazón abierto, cáncer de hígado y un trasplante de hígado
  • A battle with depression that nearly ended everythingUna batalla contra la depresión que casi terminó con todo
  • Unexpected friendships with celebrities, world-class leaders, and music icon Eric ClaptonAmistades inesperadas con celebridades, líderes de talla mundial y el icono de la música Eric Clapton
  • Encounters that brought me from jungle villages to boardrooms connected to Donald TrumpEncuentros que me llevaron desde aldeas en la selva hasta salas de juntas conectadas con Donald Trump
  • The extraordinary journey from missionary kid to minister, CEO, transplant survivor, and yacht entrepreneurEl extraordinario viaje de hijo de misioneros a ministro, director ejecutivo, sobreviviente de trasplante y empresario náutico

What a gift you’ve given me...

Qué regalo me has dado...

Duane Hallock, Red Cross Duane Hallock, Cruz Roja
Buy on Amazon Comprar en Amazon
Nine Lives. One True Love — book cover by Lester Keizer

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Sample Chapter Preview Vista Previa del Capítulo de Muestra

Nine Lives. One True Love.

The cold scalpel bites into my abdomen, and every ghost I have ever outrun erupts into the room at once—my father’s war-torn screams, my mother’s broken prayers, three marriages in shrapnel, every near-death cir-cling me like a vulture, waiting to see if God himself will decide I’ve earned one more sunrise. And decades before this blade opens me, my father kneels in a prisoner of war courtyard with a drunken guard’s bayonet pressed under his jaw—a teenager waiting for execution. And the only reason I’m on this table fighting for my own sunrise is because, on that night, death blinked first: for my father, Leslie (Pim/Jong) Keizer, and then, in a different way, for me—Lester (Les) Keizer. I don’t know it yet—lying open beneath surgical lights, drifting between worlds—but this moment isn’t the beginning of my story. It’s the continu-ation of my father’s. Because before death ever came for me in operating rooms and ICU corridors, it had already circled my family once. My father met it first. And without ever meaning to, he taught me how to look back at it without flinching. Every journey begins somewhere, and mine begins long before my first breath—carved by war, hunger, brutality, and a stubborn will to survive long enough to hand me the future I would one day fight for on operating tables and in a psychiatric ward. My story begins with my father in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II. His pain raised me. His survival was what I inherited. His stolen sunrises became the ones I now struggle to earn—incision by incision, hospital by hospital. This is his story And this is where mine begins. Not with my own first breath, but with his stolen youth. With occupation. With hunger. With the slow education of fear. Before I inherited his name, I inherited the cost of his survival. ~ ~ ~

Texto en bruto del Capítulo 1 aquí...