- Table View
- List View
Our Families, Our Values: Snapshots of Queer Kinship
by Robert Goss Amy Adams Squire StrongheartOur Families, Our Values challenges both the gay community and American society to examine carefully the meaning of family values and the nature of social institutions such as marriage and the family. It asks you provoking, even disturbing, questions such as: “Is it prudent for members of the Lavender community to mimic heterosexual marriage or define personal relations networks as families, when these institutions are rapidly collapsing?” “Are we attempting to mainstream American society into accepting different views of marriage and families?” “Are we subscribing to notions of sexual property that are inherent to the marriage ceremony and the institution of marriage, when we choose to be married?” Despite the complexities of this issue, marriage constitutes a privileged position in western society, and, as this book shows you, without the legal recognition of same-sex marriages, there are many fundamental rights, as well as privileges, denied to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons.As Our Families, Our Values turns upside-down the widely accepted notion that only heterosexual people are entitled to get married, have sex, and rear children, you gain insight into personal struggles and affirmations that testify to the spirituality, procreativity, and wholesomeness of the diverse relationships of the Lavender community. You will also learn about various ongoing efforts to give religious pride to the various configurations of gay relationships, families, and values and the disruption of popular interpretations of the Scriptures that have been used to justify the oppression of sexual minorities. This book will intrigue you over and over again, as you read about: value systems transphobia equal marriage rights Buddhism’s rejection of “traditional family values” Brazil’s sex-positive culture differences between gay male social formations and families choosing a language and terms that empower sexual minorities and the essence of the liberation movement sex as communion relationships based on nurture, not transactionDesigned for academics and students of religion, pastors, priests, rabbis, and lay readers alike, Our Families, Our Values is a multifaceted view of the gay community’s response to the public controversy over gay marriage, adoption, and foster care rights. Ideal as a textbook for courses in sexuality, theology, sociology, women’s studies, and gay and lesbian studies, this book will both inform you and delight you as it reminds you that same-sex unions bring much cause for celebration and that religion and homosexuality are not mutually exclusive.
Our Future is Biotech: A Plain English Guide to How a Tech Revolution is Changing Our Lives and Our Health for the Better
by Andrew Craig"An essential read for anyone committed to understanding the technologies that will define our future." CHRISTIAN ANGERMAYER, BIOTECH ENTREPRENEUR AND FOUNDER OF APEIRON INVESTMENT GROUPWelcome to the biotech revolutionIn the last century, technology has transformed the human experience across the world. This has been super-charged by the arrival of the internet, smart phones, AI and machine learning, and created trillion-plus dollar companies and household names like Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft.Our Future is Biotech explains why biotech is next: because our biggest remaining challenges as a species concern biological systems.Biotech companies will solve our most intractable problems, from cancer, dementia, obesity and diabetes to elderly care, mental health conditions, and even clean power generation, agricultural production and environmental degradation.Biotech means that we can all live better, safer, healthier, wealthier, happier, and longer lives.The industry has already delivered "miracle cures" for several diseases, and there is more to come. But despite this, few people are aware of the phenomenal progress being made. Our Future is Biotech addresses this, explaining what biotech is, what is coming next, and how you might profit from it too.Tech has been the most important theme for human progress for the last century. Biotech is next.
Our Future is Biotech: A Plain English Guide to How a Tech Revolution is Changing Our Lives and Our Health for the Better
by Andrew Craig"An essential read for anyone committed to understanding the technologies that will define our future." CHRISTIAN ANGERMAYER, BIOTECH ENTREPRENEUR AND FOUNDER OF APEIRON INVESTMENT GROUPWelcome to the biotech revolutionIn the last century, technology has transformed the human experience across the world. This has been super-charged by the arrival of the internet, smart phones, AI and machine learning, and created trillion-plus dollar companies and household names like Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft.Our Future is Biotech explains why biotech is next: because our biggest remaining challenges as a species concern biological systems.Biotech companies will solve our most intractable problems, from cancer, dementia, obesity and diabetes to elderly care, mental health conditions, and even clean power generation, agricultural production and environmental degradation.Biotech means that we can all live better, safer, healthier, wealthier, happier, and longer lives.The industry has already delivered "miracle cures" for several diseases, and there is more to come. But despite this, few people are aware of the phenomenal progress being made. Our Future is Biotech addresses this, explaining what biotech is, what is coming next, and how you might profit from it too.Tech has been the most important theme for human progress for the last century. Biotech is next.
Our Future is Biotech: A Plain English Guide to How a Tech Revolution is Changing Our Lives and Our Health for the Better
by Andrew Craig"An essential read for anyone committed to understanding the technologies that will define our future." CHRISTIAN ANGERMAYER, BIOTECH ENTREPRENEUR AND FOUNDER OF APEIRON INVESTMENT GROUPWelcome to the biotech revolutionIn the last century, technology has transformed the human experience across the world. This has been super-charged by the arrival of the internet, smart phones, AI and machine learning, and created trillion-plus dollar companies and household names like Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft.Our Future is Biotech explains why biotech is next: because our biggest remaining challenges as a species concern biological systems.Biotech companies will solve our most intractable problems, from cancer, dementia, obesity and diabetes to elderly care, mental health conditions, and even clean power generation, agricultural production and environmental degradation.Biotech means that we can all live better, safer, healthier, wealthier, happier, and longer lives.The industry has already delivered "miracle cures" for several diseases, and there is more to come. But despite this, few people are aware of the phenomenal progress being made. Our Future is Biotech addresses this, explaining what biotech is, what is coming next, and how you might profit from it too.Tech has been the most important theme for human progress for the last century. Biotech is next.
Our Future is Biotech: A Plain English Guide to How a Tech Revolution is Changing Our Lives and Our Health for the Better
by Andrew Craig"An essential read for anyone committed to understanding the technologies that will define our future." CHRISTIAN ANGERMAYER, BIOTECH ENTREPRENEUR AND FOUNDER OF APEIRON INVESTMENT GROUPWelcome to the biotech revolutionIn the last century, technology has transformed the human experience across the world. This has been super-charged by the arrival of the internet, smart phones, AI and machine learning, and created trillion-plus dollar companies and household names like Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft.Our Future is Biotech explains why biotech is next: because our biggest remaining challenges as a species concern biological systems.Biotech companies will solve our most intractable problems, from cancer, dementia, obesity and diabetes to elderly care, mental health conditions, and even clean power generation, agricultural production and environmental degradation.Biotech means that we can all live better, safer, healthier, wealthier, happier, and longer lives.The industry has already delivered "miracle cures" for several diseases, and there is more to come. But despite this, few people are aware of the phenomenal progress being made. Our Future is Biotech addresses this, explaining what biotech is, what is coming next, and how you might profit from it too.Tech has been the most important theme for human progress for the last century. Biotech is next.
"Our Gallant Doctor": Surgeon-Lieutenant George Hendry and HMCS Ottawa, 1942
by James GoodwinDuring the Battle of the Atlantic, Dr. George Hendry had just finished performing two major surgical operations on board the destroyer HMCS Ottawa when his ship was ambushed by 13 German U-boats. Canadian warships like Ottawa had inadequate radar sets that were incapable of detecting submarines approaching in the dark. On September 13, 1942, U-91 stole in and torpedoed Ottawa, sinking her in 20 minutes. utterly exhausted, Dr. Hendry was lost along with 113 of his shipmates. George Hendry was a much-loved man, a great university athlete, and a very good doctor. Unfortunately, he was also naive and too trusting. One night in January 1941, he committed a very foolish indiscretion. He would spend the rest of his tragically short life making amends for this mistake.
Our Global Environment: A Health Perspective (7th edition)
by Anne NadakavukarenA broad survey of the major environmental issues facing the world today. The dual approach describes the ecological impact of various human activities combined with specific issues of personal and community health, and emphasizes the interrelatedness of the two. Topics include depletion of the ozone layer and its consequences, global warming, current policy options for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, the disappearing Aral Sea, Everglades restoration, the deadly bacteria, and environmental racism. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc. , Portland, Or.
Our Grandchildren Redesigned
by Michael BessA panoramic overview of biotechnologies that can endlessly boost human capabilities and the drastic changes these "superhuman" traits could trigger Biotechnology is moving fast. In the coming decades, advanced pharmaceuticals, bioelectronics, and genetic interventions will be used not only to heal the sick but to boost human physical and mental performance to unprecedented levels. People will have access to pills that make them stronger and faster, informatic devices will interface seamlessly with the human brain, and epigenetic modification may allow people to reshape their own physical and mental identities at will.Until recently, such major technological watersheds--like the development of metal tools or the industrialization of manufacturing--came about incrementally over centuries or longer. People and social systems had time to adapt: they gradually developed new values, norms, and habits to accommodate the transformed material conditions. But contemporary society is dangerously unprepared for the dramatic changes it is about to experience down this road on which it is already advancing at an accelerating pace.The results will no doubt be mixed. People will live longer, healthier lives, will fine-tune their own thought processes, and will generate staggeringly complex and subtle forms of knowledge and insight. But these technologies also threaten to widen the rift between rich and poor, to generate new forms of social and economic division, and to force people to engage in constant cycles of upgrades and boosts merely to keep up. Individuals who boost their traits beyond a certain threshold may acquire such extreme capabilities that they will no longer be recognized as unambiguously human.In this important and timely book, prize-winning historian Michael Bess provides a clear, nontechnical overview of cutting-edge biotechnology and paints a vivid portrait of a near-future society in which bioenhancement has become a part of everyday life. He surveys the ethical questions raised by the enhancement enterprise and explores the space for human agency in dealing with the challenges that these technologies will present.Headed your way over the coming decades: new biotechnologies that can powerfully alter your body and mind.The possibilities are tantalizing:* Rejuvenation therapies offering much longer lives (160 and even beyond) in full vigor and mental acuity * Cognitive enhancement through chemical or bioelectronic means (the rough equivalent of doubling or tripling IQ scores) * Epigenetic tools for altering some of your genetically influenced traits at any point in your lifetime (body shape, athletic ability, intelligence, personality) * Bioelectronic devices for modulating your own brain processes, including your "pleasure centers" (a potentially non-stop high) * Direct control of machines by thought, and perhaps direct communication with other people, brain-to-brain (a new dimension of sharing and intimacy) But some of the potential consequences are also alarming: * A growing rift between the biologically enhanced and those who can't afford such modifications * A constant cycle of upgrades and boosts as the bar of "normal" rises ever higher--"Humans 95, Humans XP, Humans 8" * The fragmentation of humankind into rival "bioenhancement clusters" * A gradually blurring boundary between "person" and "product" * Extreme forms of self-modification, with some individuals no longer recognized as unambiguously humanFrom the Hardcover edition.
Our Health Our Lives
by Eileen HoffmanA complete health-care guide for women combines the latest studies in gynecology, psychology, and nutrition, demonstrating how the medical system can be transformed to serve important needs.
Our Health Plan: Community Governed Healthcare That Works
by Jim RickardsJust when you thought there was no cure for an ailing healthcare system, Our Health Plan will change your mind entirely. Chronicling the journey of a single community through the labyrinth of local healthcare in its efforts to effect change, proponents focus on the most economically disadvantaged and vulnerable-the Medicaid population, as well as reaching out to the commercially insured, creating a revolutionary Coordinated Care Organization, or CCO, in the process. Harnessing the power of its doctors, hospitals, dentists, psychologists, addiction counselors, paramedics, educators, and other integral healthcare forces, the medical community learns to work as a cohesive unit. Results include vastly improved care, reduced costs, favorable relationships and communication among providers, and patients with a decisive voice in a totally reimagined healthcare system.
Our Hospital
by Samuel ShemIn this sequel to The House of God and Man's 4th Best Hospital, Dr. Roy Basch returns to his economically depressed hometown in upstate New York to help the struggling hospital battle the COVID-19 pandemic and the money-driven bureaucracy.After the tragic climax of Man's 4th Best Hospital, four doctors have left practicing medicine. But with COVID-19 sweeping the country, they come together to help the small town of Columbia, New York. The doctors and nurses are buckling as they battle both a raging pandemic and the financial woes facing small hospitals everywhere. But no matter what's happening in the world, babies are born, people fall in love, and doctors will do anything to save their patients.Our Hospital reveals the daily struggle of fighting a pandemic and its personal impact on healthcare workers young and old, who are terrified, exhausted...and determined, somehow, to prevail.
Our Inner Conflicts: A Constructive Theory of Neurosis
by Karen HorneyHere Karen Horney develops a dynamic theory of neurosis centered on the basic conflict among attitudes of "moving forward" "moving against," and "moving away from" people. Unlike Freud, Horney does not regard neurosis as rooted in instinct. In her words, her theory is constructive because "it allows us for the first time to tackle and resolve neurotic hopelessness. . . . Neurotic conflicts cannot be resolved by rational decision. . . . But [they] can be resolved by changing the conditions within the personality that brought them into being."
Our Inner Conflicts: A CONSTRUCTIVE THEORY OF NEUROSIS (International Library Of Psychology Ser.)
by Horney, KarenFirst Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Our Kind of People: Thoughts on the HIV/AIDS epidemic
by Uzodinma IwealaHIV/AIDS is more divisive and destructive than any other disease - tearing apart communities and ostracising the afflicted. Award-winning novelist Uzodinma Iweala embarks on a remarkable journey around the African continent meeting individuals and communities that are struggling daily with the disease. He meets people from all walks of life, from sex workers to the truck drivers who frequent them; from the doctors and nurses who tend the sick; to the children orphaned by the illness and their adoptive families. He meets the wives of husbands with HIV and the husbands of wives with the virus. Beautifully written and heart-breakingly honest, Our Kind of People goes behind the headlines of this epidemic to show the real lives affected by it, illuminating the scope of the crisis and a continent's desperate struggle.
Our Long Marvelous Dying: A Novel
by Anna DeForestPalliative-care physician and award-winning author Anna DeForest returns with an ode to life and to death, and the ways we care for ourselves and others on our long, marvelous walk toward the end. In a pandemic-hushed city, a young doctor lives a life of insecure attachments: to a distant partner in an untended marriage, to a loaner child who stirs up hurts from the past, to houseplants wilting in a dark apartment on a once-vibrant street. Through a yearlong fellowship caring for the dying and their families, death is impossible to ignore, and still more endings loom at every turn—endings made worse by wounded, avoidant doctors who don&’t know how to let go. But after the sudden loss of a long-estranged father, our unnamed narrator&’s work is thrown into painful relief, and we see, under threats large and small, how far we will go to hold on to our lives—no matter how little we live them. Lyrical and with piercing insight, Our Long Marvelous Dying is a meditation on the twin drives of life and death—and how all of us reckon, day by day, with their ecstatic, inevitable collide.
Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary
by Timothy SnyderOn December 29, 2019, historian Timothy Snyder fell gravely ill. Unable to stand, barely able to think, he waited for hours in an emergency room before being correctly diagnosed and rushed into surgery. Over the next few days, as he clung to life and the first light of a new year came through his window, he found himself reflecting on the fragility of health, not recognized in America as a human right but without which all rights and freedoms have no meaning. <p><p> And that was before the pandemic. We have since watched American hospitals, long understaffed and undersupplied, buckling under waves of coronavirus patients. The federal government made matters worse through willful ignorance, misinformation, and profiteering. Our system of commercial medicine failed the ultimate test, and thousands of Americans died. <p> In this eye-opening cri de coeur, Snyder traces the societal forces that led us here and outlines the lessons we must learn to survive. In examining some of the darkest moments of recent history and of his own life, Snyder finds glimmers of hope and principles that could lead us out of our current malaise. Only by enshrining healthcare as a human right, elevating the authority of doctors and medical knowledge, and planning for our children’s future can we create an America where everyone is truly free. <p> <b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Our Necessary Shadow: The Nature and Meaning of Psychiatry
by Tom BurnsThe first attempt in forty years to explain the full subject of psychiatry, from one of the world's experts. In what will be a tour de force in the field of psychiatry in all its complexity and depth, this important new volume explores the essential paradox of psychiatry--and offers a balanced understanding of its history and development in the medical world. Much is written about psychiatry, but very little that describes psychiatry itself. Why should there be such a need? For good or ill, psychiatry is a polemical battleground, criticized on the one hand as an instrument of social control, while on the other the latest developments in neuroscience are trumpeted as lasting solutions to mental illness. Which of these strikingly contrasting positions should we believe? This is the first attempt in a generation to explain the whole subject of psychiatry. in this deeply thoughtful, descriptive, and sympathetic book, Tom Burns reviews the historical development of psychiatry, throughout alert to where psychiatry helps, and where it is imperfect. What is clear is that mental illnesses are intimately tied to what makes us human in the first place. and the drive to relieve the suffering they cause is even more human. Psychiatry, for all its flaws, currently represents our best attempt to discharge this most human of impulses. it is not something we can just ignore. it is our necessary shadow.
Our NHS: A History of Britain's Best Loved Institution
by Andrew SeatonAn engaging, inclusive history of the NHS, exploring its surprising survival—and the people who have kept it running In recent decades, a wave of appreciation for the NHS has swept across the UK. Britons have clapped for frontline workers and championed the service as a distinctive national achievement. All this has happened in the face of ideological opposition, marketization, and workforce crises. But how did the NHS become what it is today? In this wide-ranging history, Andrew Seaton examines the full story of the NHS. He traces how the service has changed and adapted, bringing together the experiences of patients, staff from Britain and abroad, and the service&’s wider supporters and opponents. He explains not only why it survived the neoliberalism of the late twentieth century but also how it became a key marker of national identity. Seaton emphasizes the resilience of the NHS—perpetually &“in crisis&” and yet perennially enduring—as well as the political values it embodies and the work of those who have tirelessly kept it afloat.
Our Present Complaint: American Medicine, Then and Now
by Charles E. RosenbergCharles E. Rosenberg, one of the world's most influential historians of medicine, presents a fascinating analysis of the current tensions in American medicine. Situating these tensions within their historical and social contexts, Rosenberg investigates the fundamental characteristics of medicine: how we think about disease, how the medical profession thinks about itself and its moral and intellectual responsibilities, and what prospective patients—all of us—expect from medicine and the medical profession. He explores the nature and definition of disease and how ideas of disease causation reflect social values and cultural negotiations. His analyses of alternative medicine and bioethics consider the historically specific ways in which we define and seek to control what is appropriately medical. At a time when clinical care and biomedical research generate as much angst as they offer cures, this volume provides valuable insight into how the practice of medicine has evolved, where it is going, and how lessons from history can improve its prognosis.
Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival? A Scientific Detective Story
by Theo Colborn Dianne Dumanoski John Peterson MyersOver thirty years ago, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring first warned that man-made chemicals were taking a deadly toll on birds and wildlife. Only now, however, are we recognizing the full consequences of this insidious threat, which is derailing sexual development and reproduction-not only in a host of animal populations but, it appears, in humans as well. Written by two leading environmental scientists and an award-winning environmental journalist, Our Stolen Future has already become one of the most controversial and talked-about books of the decade. Picking up where Silent Spring left off, this groundbreaking work gives an utterly gripping account that traces birth defects, sexual abnormalities, and reproductive failures in wildlife to their source-synthetic chemicals that mimic natural hormones, upsetting normal reproductive and developmental processes. And humans appear far from immune to the effects of these "hormone impostors." Male sperm counts have dropped as much as 50 percent in recent decades, while women have suffered a dramatic rise in hormone-related cancers, endometriosis, and other disorders. By threatening the ability to reproduce, these chemicals may be invisibly undermining the human future. Piecing together the clues, the authors detail how these industrial pollutants have spread with ease through the web of life from the equator to the poles, and explore what we can and must do to combat this invasion. Timely, urgent, and scrupulously reported, this riveting story of scientific detection will have a major impact on public debate for decades to come. It is indispensable for those concerned about the profound human impact on the environment, the well-being of our children, and the survival of our species.
Our Stories: 75 Years of the NHS from the People Who Built It, Lived It and Love It
by Stephanie SnowFOREWORD BY ADAM KAY, AUTHOR OF THIS IS GOING TO HURTPortion of proceeds go to NHS Charities Together.A beautiful and heart-warming collection of stories, this landmark publication tells, for the first time ever, the rich history of the NHS through the ordinary people who have experienced it.Founded on the concept of providing healthcare to rich and poor alike, the National Health Service (NHS) has been at the heart of our everyday experiences of life and death since 1948.From Joan Meredith, who stood on street corners in the freezing winter to campaign for a new health system, to one of the first patients diagnosed with HIV/Aids, Jonathan Blake, and Klarissa Velasco, who comforted and held the hands of people suffering from Covid-19, Our Stories follows our health service from its conception to today, and tells the many incredible stories that have happened throughout its lifetime.Filled with tales of every part of life, this beautiful book tells, for the first time ever, the moving history of our world-leading health service through the voices of the patients, nurses, doctors, porters and ordinary people who have turned it into the beating heart of our country. It is a heart-warming account of an amazing institution.
Our Stroke of Luck: New Technology Enables Stroke Victims to Make a Full Recovery
by J. Gerry PurdyMost people think that stroke victims end up looking like Frankenstein with a horrible facial expression and erratic movements. But, that is not the way it has to be. Today, it is possible for some stroke victims to make a full recovery. Gerry Purdy knows this because his wife, Alicia – a healthy, beautiful and smart person – suffered a stroke on August 23, 2011 and was able to return to her vivacious self.Our Stroke of Luck portrays the life they had together. Gerry and Alicia had dated in high school and got back together for their 45th high school reunion. Life was good. And then – Bam! – without warning Alicia suffered a stroke. Find out how Alicia’s neurosurgeon was able to remove the clot from her brain that caused the stroke. Experience the tense ups and downs of that night—one moment seeming as though she might be paralyzed on her left side for the rest of her life and then the next seeing a flash of hope. Gerry and Alicia were lucky that the radiologist was able to identify the clot in her brain and lucky to get her transferred to the Marcus Stroke Center at Grady Hospital in Atlanta. They were lucky that Dr. Nogueira was able to extract the clot from Alicia’s brain. And, finally, they were lucky that she was able to make a full recovery. Truly, this was their stroke of luck.
Our Transgenic Future: Spider Goats, Genetic Modification, and the Will to Change Nature
by Lisa Jean MooreHow scientific advances in genetic modification will fundamentally change the natural worldThe process of manipulating the genetic material of one animal to include the DNA of another creates a new transgenic organism. Several animals, notably goats, mice, sheep, and cattle are now genetically modified in this way. In Our Transgenic Future, Lisa Jean Moore wonders what such scientific advances portend. Will the natural world become so modified that it ceases to exist? After turning species into hybrids, can we ever get back to the original, or are they forever lost? Does genetic manipulation make better lives possible, and if so, for whom?Moore centers the story on goats that have been engineered by the US military and civilian scientists using the DNA of spiders. The goat’s milk contains a spider-silk protein fiber; it can be spun into ultra-strong fabric that can be used to manufacture lightweight military body armor. Researchers also hope the transgenically produced spider silk will revolutionize medicine with biocompatible medical inserts such as prosthetics and bandages. Based on in-depth research with spiders in Florida and transgenic goats in Utah, Our Transgenic Future focuses on how these spidergoats came into existence, the researchers who maintain them, the funders who have made their lives possible, and how they fit into the larger science of transgenics and synthetics. This book is a fascinating story about the possibilities of science and the likely futures that may come.
Our Veterans: Winners, Losers, Friends, and Enemies on the New Terrain of Veterans Affairs
by Suzanne Gordon Steve Early Jasper CravenIn Our Veterans, Suzanne Gordon, Steve Early, and Jasper Craven explore the physical, emotional, social, economic, and psychological impact of military service and the problems that veterans face when they return to civilian life. The authors critically examine the role of advocacy organizations, philanthropies, corporations, and politicians who purport to be “pro-veteran.” They describe the ongoing debate about the cost, quality, and effectiveness of healthcare provided or outsourced by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). They also examine generational divisions and political tensions among veterans, as revealed in the tumultuous events of 2020, from Black Lives Matter protests to the Trump-Biden presidential contest. Frank and revealing, Our Veterans proposes a new agenda for veterans affairs linking service provision to veterans to the quest for broader social programs benefiting all Americans.
Out Came the Sun: One Family's Triumph over a Rare Genetic Syndrome
by Judith ScottSix years into their marriage, Judith Scott and her husband Greg decided to take the next step in becoming a family: having a child. At first unsuccessful, they are blessed with the birth of a beautiful girl, Emily. The joy of having their first child is short lived, however; after just a few months, following numerous trips in and out of the hospital, Emily is diagnosed with a rare and disabling condition, Partial Trisomy 13. Doctors expect additional physical complications and severe learning disabilities, and say Emily will never walk, talk, or read.