Nineteen

What can we learn from a young life beautifully lived, especially when that life is put to the ultimate test? What truths are meant to flourish long after any one individual stops walking this earth?

BY ADAM J.T. ROBARTS

Nineteen is a book of profound and inspiring reflections based on a true story of Haydn Robarts.


In July 2019, Haydn started to experience headaches, blurred vision, and nausea. He was sent for a precautionary MRI, which revealed a 4cm-diameter tumor at the base of his brain. This tremendous shock kickstarted a remarkable journey into unchartered territory with no other options but to face forward and move one step at a time. It took a Himalayan effort, and Haydn gave the climb everything he had with the hope that conquering this disease would be akin to reaching a hard-earned summit.

After two brain surgeries, multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, a clinical trial, and some periods of progress, Haydn passed away a week before his 20th birthday. While the ordeal was awful, Nineteen describes the journey as far from awful, rather as uplifting, nourishing, rewarding and even joyous. The book concludes that Haydn did indeed reach the summit, just not in the way anyone imagined.

Nineteen takes readers along Haydn’s path, sharing intimate family moments alongside universal lessons that crystallized for the author as he watched his teenage son, in awe and wonder, face his physical demise with grace, love and gratitude.

Play Video

PRAISE FOR NINETEEN

“Live a life filled with joy and try to consciously consider how to bring joy to the lives of those around you as well.”

HAYDN ROBARTS

About Haydn

Buy the Book

Chapters-Indigo
See All Retailers

About the Authors

Adam Robarts
Adam Robarts was born in London and raised in Uganda and Kenya. He returned to the UK to study architecture at Cambridge University. Adam and his wife, Karyn, went on to establish an award-winning design firm in China. They have four children who were all born and raised in Beijing.

In December 2018, during a family vacation in Canada, Adam was asked what he would choose to be if not an architect. He replied, without hesitation, “A hospice nurse.” Five years earlier, he had a profound experience accompanying his father through the final weeks of life before he died of cancer in Uganda. Adam could not have imagined then that nine months later he would begin to accompany his 19-year-old son, Haydn, through a battle with a rare brain cancer. Haydn graduated from this physical world in May 2020, one week before his 20th birthday.

Nineteen, is Adam’s first book and shares the beautiful and poignant lessons learned on the family’s journey with Haydn.
Karen Malmqvist
Karen Malmqvist is a recognized journalist, photographer, and public speaker, and leads her own communications business. As a public relations and strategic development expert, she has written for and advised leaders of nations as well as Fortune 500 companies around the world. She is the co-founder of the non-profit live it up!, an adventure-based leadership program that seeks to empower women. Karen is fascinated by the limitless power of the human spirit and what people can achieve when they open up their potential. She is a high-altitude mountaineer, avid cyclist and novice surfer. She approaches life with passion, purpose and joy.









Lou Aronica

Lou Aronica
collaborated with Sir Ken Robinson on the NYT bestsellers The Element and Finding Your Element, and with Jim Kwik on the recent NYT bestseller Limitless. Lou is also the coauthor of the nonfiction bestseller The Culture Code with Clotaire Rapaille, and The Greatest You with Trent Shelton. He is the author of national bestselling novels The Forever Year, Blue, The Journey Home, and Away. He is the President and Publisher of the independent publishing house The Story Plant, and a past president of Novelists Inc.













Adam Robarts
Adam Robarts was born in London and raised in Uganda and Kenya. He returned to the UK to study architecture at Cambridge University. Adam and his wife, Karyn, went on to establish an award-winning design firm in China. They have four children who were all born and raised in Beijing.

In December 2018, during a family vacation in Canada, Adam was asked what he would choose to be if not an architect. He replied, without hesitation, “A hospice nurse.” Five years earlier, he had a profound experience accompanying his father through the final weeks of life before he died of cancer in Uganda. Adam could not have imagined then that nine months later he would begin to accompany his 19-year-old son, Haydn, through a battle with a rare brain cancer. Haydn graduated from this physical world in May 2020, one week before his 20th birthday.

Nineteen, is Adam’s first book and shares the beautiful and poignant lessons learned on the family’s journey with Haydn.
Karen Malmqvist

Karen Malmqvist is a recognized journalist, photographer, and public speaker, and leads her own communications business. As a public relations and strategic development expert, she has written for and advised leaders of nations as well as Fortune 500 companies around the world. She is the co-founder of the non-profit live it up!, an adventure-based leadership program that seeks to empower women. Karen is fascinated by the limitless power of the human spirit and what people can achieve when they open up their potential. She is a high-altitude mountaineer, avid cyclist and novice surfer. She approaches life with passion, purpose and joy.

Lou Aronica

Lou Aronica
collaborated with Sir Ken Robinson on the NYT bestsellers The Element and Finding Your Element, and with Jim Kwik on the recent NYT bestseller Limitless. Lou is also the coauthor of the nonfiction bestseller The Culture Code with Clotaire Rapaille, and The Greatest You with Trent Shelton. He is the author of national bestselling novels The Forever Year, Blue, The Journey Home, and Away. He is the President and Publisher of the independent publishing house The Story Plant, and a past president of Novelists Inc.