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When AIDS Began: San Francisco and the Making of an Epidemic

by Michelle Cochrane

By examining the early outbreaks in San Francisco, Cochrane unfolds the "creation" of AIDS in one geographic location and then traces how and why major claims about the transmission of HIV were made, extrapolated and then disseminated to the rest of the world - all important factors in understanding this disease.

When Antidepressants Aren’t Enough: Harnessing the Power of Mindfulness to Alleviate Depression

by Stuart J. Eisendrath

For nearly two decades, Dr. Stuart Eisendrath has been researching and teaching the therapeutic effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) with people experiencing clinical depression. By helping them recognize that they can find relief by changing how they relate to their thoughts, Eisendrath has seen dramatic improvements in people’s quality of life, as well as actual, measurable brain changes. Easily practiced breath exercises, meditations, and innovative visualizations release readers from what can often feel like the tyranny of their thoughts. Freedom of thought, feeling, and action is the life-altering result.

When A Baby Dies: The Experience of Late Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Neonatal Death

by Alix Henley Nancy Kohner

Every year in the UK over 10,000 babies die before birth or shortly afterwards. For the parents, the grief is hard to bear. In this book, parents who have lost a baby tell their stories. They speak about what happened, how they felt, how they have been helped by others and how they helped themselves.Using letters from and interviews with many bereaved parents, Nancy Kohner and Alix Henley have written a book which offers understanding of what it means to lose a baby and the grief that follows. When a Baby Dies also contains valuable information about why a baby dies, hospital practices, the process of grieving, sources of support, and the care parents need in future pregnancies.

When Blood Breaks Down: Life Lessons from Leukemia (The\mit Press Ser.)

by Mikkael A. Sekeres

A leading cancer specialist tells the compelling stories of three adult leukemia patients and their treatments, the disease itself, and the drugs developed to treat it.When you are told that you have leukemia, your world stops. Your brain can't function. You are asked to make decisions about treatment almost immediately, when you are not in your right mind. And yet you pull yourself together and start asking questions. Beside you is your doctor, whose job it is to solve the awful puzzle of bone marrow gone wrong. The two of you are in it together. In When Blood Breaks Down, Mikkael Sekeres, a leading cancer specialist, takes readers on the journey that patient and doctor travel together. Sekeres, who writes regularly for the Well section of the New York Times, tells the compelling stories of three people who receive diagnoses of adult leukemia within hours of each other: Joan, a 48-year-old surgical nurse, a caregiver who becomes a patient; David, a 68-year-old former factory worker who bows to his family's wishes and pursues the most aggressive treatment; and Sarah, a 36-year-old pregnant woman who must decide whether to undergo chemotherapy and put her fetus at risk. We join the intimacy of the conversations Sekeres has with his patients, and watch as he teaches trainees. Along the way, Sekeres also explores leukemia in its different forms and the development of drugs to treat it—describing, among many other fascinating details, the invention of the bone marrow transplant (first performed experimentally on beagles) and a treatment that targets the genetics of leukemia.The lessons to be learned from leukemia, Sekeres shows, are not merely medical; they teach us about courage and grace and defying the odds.

When Breath Becomes Air

by Abraham Verghese Paul Kalanithi

For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? <p><p> At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. <p> Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

When Care is Conditional: Immigrants and the U.S. Safety Net

by Dani Carrillo

From its inception, the public safety net in the United States has excluded many people because of their race, gendered roles, or other factors. As a result, they must prove their moral worthiness to get resources for themselves and their families. In When Care Is Conditional, sociologist Dani Carrillo reveals the ramifications of this conditional safety net by focusing on one particularly vulnerable population: undocumented immigrants. Through in-depth interviews with Latinx immigrants in northern California, Carrillo examines three circumstances—place, gender, and immigration status—that intersect to influence an individual’s access to health care, food assistance, and other benefits. She demonstrates that place of residence affects undocumented immigrants’ ability to get care since more services are available in urban areas, where many immigrants cannot afford to live, than suburban areas, where public transportation is limited. She also shows that while both men and women who are undocumented have difficulty obtaining care, men often confront more challenges. Undocumented women who are pregnant or mothers are eligible for some government safety net programs and rely on informal coethnic networks or a “guiding figure”—a relative, friend, neighbor, or coworker—who explains how to get care and makes them feel confident in accessing it. Most undocumented men, in contrast, are not eligible for public programs except in a medical emergency and often lack someone to guide them directly to care. Men sometimes steer one another to jobs through worker centers—where they may learn about various services and take advantage of those that increase their employability, like English or computer classes—but a culture of masculinity leads them to downplay medical problems and seek health care only in a crisis. As undocumented immigrants navigate this exclusionary system, Carrillo finds that they resist the rhetoric stigmatizing them as lawbreakers. Dismissing the importance of “papers” and highlighting their work ethic, they question the fairness of U.S. immigration policies and challenge ideas about who deserves care. Carrillo offers concrete recommendations, such as improving labor conditions and reexamining benefit eligibility, to increase access to care for not only undocumented immigrants but also people who have been excluded because of their race, criminal record, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability. She argues that working with and across populations creates a powerful form of solidarity in advocating for inclusive care. When Care Is Conditional provides compelling insights into how safety net and immigration policies intersect to affect people’s everyday lives and calls for a cultural shift so that the United States can provide unconditional care for all.

When Chicken Soup Isn't Enough: Stories of Nurses Standing Up for Themselves, Their Patients, and Their Profession (The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work)

by Suzanne Gordon

The reassuring bromides of "chicken soup for the soul" provide little solace for nurses—and the people they serve—in real-life hospitals, nursing homes, schools of nursing, and other settings. In the minefield of modern health care, there are myriad obstacles to quality patient care—including work overload, inadequate funds for nursing education and research, and poor communication between and within the professions, to name only a few. The seventy RNs whose stories are collected here by the award-winning journalist Suzanne Gordon know that effective advocacy isn't easy. It takes nurses willing to stand up for themselves, their coworkers, their patients, and the public.When Chicken Soup Isn't Enough brings together compelling personal narratives from a wide range of nurses from across the globe. The assembled profiles in professional courage provide new insight into the daily challenges that RNs face in North America and abroad—and how they overcome them with skill, ingenuity, persistence, and individual and collective advocacy at work and in the community. In this collection, we meet RNs working at the bedside, providing home care, managing hospital departments, teaching and doing research, lobbying for quality patient care, and campaigning for health care reform. Their stories are funny, sad, deeply moving, inspiring, and always revealing of the different ways that nurses make their voices heard in the service of their profession. The risks and rewards, joys and sorrows, of nursing have rarely been captured in such vivid first-person accounts. Gordon and the authors of the essays contained in this book have much to say about the strengths and shortcomings of health care today—and the role that nurses play as irreplaceable agents of change.

When Children Die: Improving Palliative and End-of-Life Care For Children and Their Families

by Richard E. Behrman Marilyn J. Field Committee on Palliative and End of Life Care for Children and Their Families

The National Academies Press (NAP)--publisher for the National Academies--publishes more than 200 books a year offering the most authoritative views, definitive information, and groundbreaking recommendations on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health. Our books are unique in that they are authored by the nation's leading experts in every scientific field.

When Children Die: Improving Palliative And End-of-life Care For Children And Their Families

by Marilyn J. Field Richard E. Behrman

The death of a child is a special sorrow. No matter the circumstances, a child's death is a life-altering experience. Except for the child who dies suddenly and without forewarning, physicians, nurses, and other medical personnel usually play a central role in the lives of children who die and their families. At best, these professionals will exemplify 'medicine with a heart.' At worst, families' encounters with the health care system will leave them with enduring painful memories, anger, and regrets.When Children Die examines what we know about the needs of these children and their families, the extent to which such needs are, and are not, being met, and what can be done to provide more competent, compassionate, and consistent care. The book offers recommendations for involving child patients in treatment decisions, communicating with parents, strengthening the organization and delivery of services, developing support programs for bereaved families, improving public and private insurance, training health professionals, and more. It argues that taking these steps will improve the care of children who survive as well as those who do not, and will likewise help all families who suffer with their seriously ill or injured child.Featuring illustrative case histories, the book discusses patterns of childhood death and explores the basic elements of physical, emotional, spiritual, and practical care for children and families experiencing a child's life-threatening illness or injury.

When Children Feel Pain: From Everyday Aches to Chronic Conditions

by Rachel Rabkin Peachman Anna C. Wilson

What should you do when your child hurts? Two of the leading voices on pediatric pain teach us how to help children when they need us most.From the sting of a needle to the agony of a life-threatening illness, children experience pain. When they do, they look to adults for help and comfort. But children’s pain is poorly understood, not only by many parents, teachers, and coaches, but also by numerous doctors and nurses. In When Children Feel Pain, Rachel Rabkin Peachman, an award-winning science and parenting journalist, and Anna Wilson, a pediatric pain specialist, show how the latest medical advances can help us care for children when they suffer.Untreated or misdiagnosed pain is an epidemic among children. Nearly one out of every five children in the United States suffers chronic pain, while 30 to 40 percent of children over age twelve report feeling some form of pain in any given week. Yet only a small fraction of children receive appropriate treatment, increasing the risk that they will struggle with pain later in life. But, as Peachman and Wilson show, if we give pain the attention it deserves early in life, we can minimize short-term distress and halt the development of long-term chronic pain problems.Whether you are a parent, medical professional, teacher, or anyone else who cares for children, Peachman and Wilson can teach you how to help kids cope with pain. The authors dispel myths and fears surrounding childhood vaccination and opioid prescription medication and outline a range of effective pain-relieving strategies, from cognitive behavioral therapy to parent-led soothing techniques. Helping children address pain is not only at the heart of caretaking; it also proves to be a foundation for lifelong health.

When Death Becomes Life: Notes from a Transplant Surgeon

by Joshua D. Mezrich

"With When Death Becomes Life, Joshua Mezrich has performed the perfect core biopsy of transplantation—a clear and compelling account of the grueling daily work, the spell-binding history and the unsettling ethical issues that haunt this miraculous lifesaving treatment. Mezrich's compassionate and honest voice, punctuated by a sharp and intelligent wit, render the enormous subject not just palatable but downright engrossing."—Pauline Chen, author of Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on MortalityA gifted surgeon illuminates one of the most profound, awe-inspiring, and deeply affecting achievements of modern day medicine—the movement of organs between bodies—in this exceptional work of death and life that takes its place besides Atul Gawande’s Complications, Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies, and Jerome Groopman’s How Doctors Think. At the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Joshua Mezrich creates life from loss, transplanting organs from one body to another. In this intimate, profoundly moving work, he illuminates the extraordinary field of transplantation that enables this kind of miracle to happen every day.When Death Becomes Life is a thrilling look at how science advances on a grand scale to improve human lives. Mezrich examines more than one hundred years of remarkable medical breakthroughs, connecting this fascinating history with the inspiring and heartbreaking stories of his transplant patients. Combining gentle sensitivity with scientific clarity, Mezrich reflects on his calling as a doctor and introduces the modern pioneers who made transplantation a reality—maverick surgeons whose feats of imagination, bold vision, and daring risk taking generated techniques and practices that save millions of lives around the world.Mezrich takes us inside the operating room and unlocks the wondrous process of transplant surgery, a delicate, intense ballet requiring precise timing, breathtaking skill, and at times, creative improvisation. In illuminating this work, Mezrich touches the essence of existence and what it means to be alive. Most physicians fight death, but in transplantation, doctors take from death. Mezrich shares his gratitude and awe for the privilege of being part of this transformative exchange as the dead give their last breath of life to the living. After all, the donors are his patients, too.When Death Becomes Life also engages in fascinating ethical and philosophical debates: How much risk should a healthy person be allowed to take to save someone she loves? Should a patient suffering from alcoholism receive a healthy liver? What defines death, and what role did organ transplantation play in that definition? The human story behind the most exceptional medicine of our time, Mezrich’s riveting book is a beautiful, poignant reminder that a life lost can also offer the hope of a new beginning.

When A Doctor Hates A Patient: And Other Chapters in a Young Physician's Life

by Enid Rhodes Peschel Richard E. Peschel

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1986.

When Doctors Kill

by Joshua A. Perper Stephen J. Cina

Traditionally, physicians have held a position of honor, trust, and respect in society. They are, however, fallible humans capable of making errors resulting in the unintentional death of their patients. They may also be instruments of evil submitting their patients to horrific medical experimentation, torture, and death. When Doctors Kill: Who, Why, and How will review the roots of medical ethics and examples of its perversion by murderous physicians. Physicians are generally viewed as caring and compassionate members of society, dedicated individuals charged with healing the helpless. The public is invariably fascinated when one of the "good guys" turns bad. When Doctors Kill: Who, Why, and How will examine health care professionals involved in serial killings, unethical human experimentation, and mass murder. The moral quagmire involved in the practice of modern medicine, including abortion, "mercy killings", and euthanasia, will also be discussed. The authors, Joshua A. Perper and Stephen J. Cina, are two highly published forensic pathologists who are trained to convert complex medical and scientific data into an easily digestible form suitable to the lay public. This heavily researched book can serve as a reference or as a time-killer on a long plane ride.

When Experiments Travel: Clinical Trials and the Global Search for Human Subjects

by Adriana Petryna

The phenomenal growth of global pharmaceutical sales and the quest for innovation are driving an unprecedented search for human test subjects, particularly in middle- and low-income countries. Our hope for medical progress increasingly depends on the willingness of the world's poor to participate in clinical drug trials. While these experiments often provide those in need with vital and previously unattainable medical resources, the outsourcing and offshoring of trials also create new problems. In this groundbreaking book, anthropologist Adriana Petryna takes us deep into the clinical trials industry as it brings together players separated by vast economic and cultural differences. Moving between corporate and scientific offices in the United States and research and public health sites in Poland and Brazil, When Experiments Travel documents the complex ways that commercial medical science, with all its benefits and risks, is being integrated into local health systems and emerging drug markets. Providing a unique perspective on globalized clinical trials, When Experiments Travel raises central questions: Are such trials exploitative or are they social goods? How are experiments controlled and how is drug safety ensured? And do these experiments help or harm public health in the countries where they are conducted? Empirically rich and theoretically innovative, the book shows that neither the language of coercion nor that of rational choice fully captures the range of situations and value systems at work in medical experiments today. When Experiments Travel challenges conventional understandings of the ethics and politics of transnational science and changes the way we think about global medicine and the new infrastructures of our lives.

When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America and the Fears They Have Unleashed

by Howard Markel

The struggle against deadly microbes is endless. Diseases that have plagued human beings since ancient times still exist, new maladies like SARS make their way into the headlines, we are faced with vaccine shortages, and the threat of germ warfare has reemerged as a worldwide threat. In this riveting account, medical historian Howard Markel takes an eye-opening look at the fragility of the American public health system. He tells the distinctive stories of six epidemics–tuberculosis, bubonic plague, trachoma, typhus, cholera, and AIDS–to show how how our chief defense against diseases from other countries has been to attempt to deny entry to carriers. He explains why this approach never worked, and makes clear that it is useless in today’s world of bustling international travel and porous borders. Illuminating our foolhardy attempts at isolation and showing that globalization renders us all potential inhabitants of the so-called Hot Zone, Markel makes a compelling case for a globally funded public health program that could stop the spread of epidemics and safeguard the health of everyone on the planet.

When Hope Overcame the Impossible: An epic story of a thirteen-year-old boy who refused the death sentence of brain cancer!

by Thiomas M. Walsh

Penned by the hand of his father, this is an epic story of a thirteen-year-old boy who refused a death sentence of brain cancer. Isaac Walsh was diagnosed with a malignant softball size brain tumor and given very little chance to live. Facing an uncertain future, Isaac's parents joined a clinical trial at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Isaac's treatment involved cutting-edge research-based medicine, combined with the love and compassion of the St. Jude family of healthcare professionals. Facing death three times during his treatment, Isaac underwent twenty-one surgeries, endured four experimental rounds of chemotherapy and thirty-one treatments of radiation, to his entire brain and spine. His courage to overcome the obstacles and carnage of cancer is an inspiration to all who know him. Due to the faithful giving of the St. Jude Partners in Hope and the hospital's corporate sponsorships, the $3 million-dollar hospital charge was a bill Isaac's parents were never asked to pay. Isaac's life represents a time when hope overcame the impossible.

When I Come Home Again: A beautiful and heartbreaking WWI novel, based on true events

by Caroline Scott

**From the highly acclaimed author of The Photographer of the Lost, a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick** &‘A superb and quietly devastating novel about grief, hope and the horrific aftershocks of war&’ The Times, Book of the MonthThey need him to remember. He wants to forget. 1918. In the last week of the First World War, a uniformed soldier is arrested in Durham Cathedral. When questioned, it becomes clear he has no memory of who he is or how he came to be there. The soldier is given the name Adam and transferred to a rehabilitation home. His doctor James is determined to recover who this man once was. But Adam doesn&’t want to remember. Unwilling to relive the trauma of war, Adam has locked his memory away, seemingly for good. When a newspaper publishes a feature about Adam, three women come forward, each claiming that he is someone she lost in the war. But does he believe any of these women? Or is there another family out there waiting for him to come home?Based on true events, When I Come Home Again is a deeply moving and powerful story of a nation&’s outpouring of grief, and the search for hope in the aftermath of war. Praise for When I Come Home Again: 'Breathtaking exploration of loss, love and precious memories&’ My Weekly, Pick of the Month &‘A heartbreaking read which reveals the far-reaching tragedies of war… I highly recommend it&’ Anita Frank &‘Caroline Scott&’s quietly devastating second novel insightfully explores the impact of the Great War on returning soldiers and their families' S Magazine &‘A powerful story that&’s achingly moving and most beautifully written. Readers of Maggie O&’Farrell and Helen Dunmore are likely to enjoy&’ Rachel Hore &‘Powerful… A carefully, nuanced, complex story&’ Woman & Home 'This beautiful and moving book drew me in from the first line and held me enthralled until the very end' Fiona Falpy &‘An evocative read&’heat 'A compulsive, heart-wrenching read' Liz Trenow &‘Scott litters her tale with clues and red herrings in the best mystery-writer way so we are kept guessing as to where the truth really lies&’ The BookBag 'Page turning, mysterious, engrossing and compelling' Lorna Cook &‘Caroline Scott evokes the damage and desolation of the Great War with aching authenticity' Iona Grey 'Wonderful and evocative' Suzanne Goldring &‘A beautifully written novel – immersive, poignant, intricately woven&’ Judith Kinghorn &‘The story left me breathless. Powerful, heartrending, and oh so tender. A whirlwind of emotions that will not allow us to forget&’ Kate Furnivall

When I Come Home Again: A beautiful and heartbreaking WWI novel, based on true events

by Caroline Scott

**From the highly acclaimed author of The Photographer of the Lost, a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick** &‘A superb and quietly devastating novel about grief, hope and the horrific aftershocks of war&’ The Times, Book of the MonthThey need him to remember. He wants to forget. 1918. In the last week of the First World War, a uniformed soldier is arrested in Durham Cathedral. When questioned, it becomes clear he has no memory of who he is or how he came to be there. The soldier is given the name Adam and transferred to a rehabilitation home. His doctor James is determined to recover who this man once was. But Adam doesn&’t want to remember. Unwilling to relive the trauma of war, Adam has locked his memory away, seemingly for good. When a newspaper publishes a feature about Adam, three women come forward, each claiming that he is someone she lost in the war. But does he believe any of these women? Or is there another family out there waiting for him to come home?Based on true events, When I Come Home Again is a deeply moving and powerful story of a nation&’s outpouring of grief, and the search for hope in the aftermath of war. Praise for When I Come Home Again: &‘A heartbreaking read which reveals the far-reaching tragedies of war… I highly recommend it&’ Anita Frank &‘Caroline Scott&’s quietly devastating second novel insightfully explores the impact of the Great War on returning soldiers and their families' S Magazine &‘A powerful story that&’s achingly moving and most beautifully written. Readers of Maggie O&’Farrell and Helen Dunmore are likely to enjoy&’ Rachel Hore &‘Powerful… A carefully, nuanced, complex story&’ Woman & Home 'Page turning, mysterious, engrossing and compelling' Lorna Cook 'A compulsive, heart-wrenching read' Liz Trenow &‘Caroline Scott evokes the damage and desolation of the Great War with aching authenticity' Iona Grey 'This beautiful and moving book drew me in from the first line and held me enthralled until the very end' Fiona Falpy 'Wonderful and evocative' Suzanne Goldring &‘A beautifully written novel – immersive, poignant, intricately woven&’ Judith Kinghorn &‘Scott litters her tale with clues and red herrings in the best mystery-writer way so we are kept guessing as to where the truth really lies&’ The BookBag

When I Find You: A gripping thriller that will keep you guessing to the final shocking twist

by Emma Curtis

'An excellent read! So original and clever . . . Phenomenal.' Claire Douglas, bestselling author of Local Girl Missing and Last Seen AliveWhen Laura wakes up after her office drinks party and sees a man’s shirt on her bedroom floor, she is horrified. But this is no ordinary one-night-stand regret.Laura suffers from severe face-blindness, a condition that means she is completely unable to identify and remember faces. So the man she spent all night dancing with and kissing – the man she thought she’d brought home – was ‘Pink Shirt’.But the shirt on her floor is blue.And now Laura must go to work every day, and face the man who took advantage of her condition. The man she has no way of recognising.She doesn’t know who he is . . . but when she finds him she’ll make him pay.***** READERS ARE OBSESSED WITH WHEN I FIND YOU:'One of those smart, twisty-turny books that gets the cogs working, and keeps you up late reading''The premise and characters are completely different to anything else I've read''I read a lot of psychological thrillers and this one really stands out from the rest''Gripping and right up there with the best thrillers in the bookshops''A really original and clever story'*****'A clever 'who dunnit' with a twist that almost made me miss my flight.' Jane Corry, bestselling author of My Husband's Wife and The Dead Ex'A terrifying and disorienting thriller that will leave you questioning everyone and everything right to the very last page. It's so good that I had to put everything on hold just to finish it.' Nuala Ellwood, acclaimed author of My Sister's Bones'When I Find You is a winner. It leads you down blind alleys and in to disorienting situations - I absolutely raced to the end.' T. A. Cotterell, acclaimed author of What Alice Knew

When I Wished upon a Star: From Broken Homes to Mended Hearts

by Brandon Lane Phillips Jeremy James Miller

Growing up as a patient with congenital heart disease, Brandon Lane Phillips often felt alone. He knew no one else who had his heart condition and believed no one understood his condition. Brandon believed he would die young. Like many congenital heart patients, he wondered if he would have a long life. It is only natural to question one’s mortality when open-heart surgery is what enabled you to survive childhood.Brandon worried that his heart defect caused his parents’ divorce and questioned just how much his illness had affected his siblings since so much extra attention was devoted to him. He longed to have the type of close relationship with his father that he saw on many of his favorite TV shows.At 11 years of age, he was so desperate to find answers that he asked God to show him that He loved him. Soon after, he received a wish to meet child actor Jeremy Miller from TV’s Growing Pains. Brandon had wished to meet him because he envied his “perfect” fictional family. After one of the show’s stars told Brandon that God had a plan for his life, Brandon left the set that evening feeling that the trip had been orchestrated as an answer to his prayer.There are several God-like coincidences that occur along Brandon’s path of becoming a pediatric cardiologist. Many times when Brandon would face a life experience big enough to shake his faith, an improbable experience would occur that would remind him of his wish and God’s answer to his prayer. Throughout his career, he would encounter other patients who felt alone and had questions about their own mortality.Brandon chose medicine as his profession because he greatly admired his childhood pediatric cardiologist. And even though a need for a second open-heart surgery at the beginning of medical school threatened Brandon’s dream of becoming a physician, he would ultimately be trained by the very physicians who had cared for him.Brandon’s journey of hope found within the pages of When I Wished Upon a Star is a story of giving back and finding purpose in life through the intervention of God’s great grace and perfect timing.The other life examined in this book belongs to Jeremy Miller, child actor, celebrity wish, and the friend who played an important role in Brandon’s journey. Brandon’s life truly changed forever after having met Jeremy on the television set of Growing Pains.While Brandon was dealing with his struggles, so too was Jeremy. In When I Wished Upon a Star, Jeremy shares “secrets” from his childhood that have previously gone untold. It would be easy to say that Jeremy was a child star, and that historically, most child stars aren’t expected to have a good end. Still Jeremy’s secrets shocked Brandon and brought him to tears. They also shed light on the reason for Jeremy’s battle with alcohol. Brandon would learn that Jeremy, too, envied the life that his fictional character lived. And so when the TV show ended, Jeremy almost did too.At the time of his wish, only God could have predicted how Brandon’s life and those of the stars of his favorite TV show would intertwine in the decades to follow; no one could have foreseen that a wish made by a young boy would give both he and Jeremy hope for their future and help them find purpose in the lives they were created for by a loving God--lives that would live on despite troubles and despair.Brandon was meant to use the experiences of his childhood to help others. It is the only way to explain how his life has come full circle time and time again.

When Illness Goes Public: Celebrity Patients and How We Look at Medicine

by Barron H. Lerner

Outstanding Academic Title, 2007, Choice magazineSteve McQueen had cancer and was keeping it secret. Then the media found out, and soon all of America knew. McQueen’s high profile changed forever the way the public perceived a dreaded disease. In When Illness Goes Public, Barron H. Lerner describes the evolution of celebrities' illnesses from private matters to stories of great public interest. Famous people who have become symbols of illness include Lou Gehrig, the first "celebrity patient"; Rita Hayworth, whose Alzheimer disease went undiagnosed for years; and Arthur Ashe, who courageously went public with his AIDS diagnosis before the media could reveal his secret. And then there are private citizens like Barney Clark, the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart, and Lorenzo Odone, whose neurological disorder became the subject of a Hollywood film. While celebrity illnesses have helped to inform patients about treatment options, ethical controversies, and scientific proof, the stories surrounding these illnesses have also assumed mythical characteristics that may be misleading. Marrying great storytelling to an exploration of the intersection of science, journalism, fame, and legend, this book is a groundbreaking contribution to our understanding of health and illness.

When It Gets Dark

by Thomas Debaggio

With his first memoir,Losing My Mind, Thomas DeBaggio stunned readers by laying bare his faltering mind in a haunting and beautiful meditation on the centrality of memory to human life, and on his loss of it to early-onset Alzheimer's disease. In this second extraordinary narrative, he confronts the ultimate loss: that of life. And as only DeBaggio could, he treats death as something to honor, to marvel at, to learn from. Charting the progression of his disease with breathtaking honesty, DeBaggio deftly describes the frustration, grief, and terror of grappling with his deteriorating intellectual faculties. Even more affecting, the prose itself masterfully represents the mental vicissitudes of his disease -- DeBaggio's fragments of memory, observation, and rumination surface and subside in the reader's experience much as they might in his own mind. His frank, lilting voice and abundant sense of wonder bind these fragments into a fluid and poetic portrait of life and loss. Over the course of the book, DeBaggio revisits many of the people, places, and events of his life, both in his memory and in fact. In a sense, he is saying goodbye, paying his respects to the world as it recedes from him -- and it is a poignant irony that even as this happens, he is at the height of his remarkable descriptive powers. In his moments of clarity, his love for life's details only grows deeper and richer: the limestone creek where he has fished for years; his satisfying and lonely herb farming days; the goldfish pond his son designed and built in his backyard in honor of DeBaggio's passion for "any hole in the ground with some liquid in it"; the thirty years in his beloved home in Arlington, Virginia; his early career as a muckraker; the innumerable precious moments spent with his wife and son; his belated grief over his parents' deaths. Adeptly navigating between elegy and celebration, fear and determination, confusion and clarity, DeBaggio delivers an exquisitely moving and inspiring book that will resonate with all those who have grappled with their own or their loved ones' memory loss and with death.

When It Gets Dark: An Enlightened Reflection on Life with Alzheimer's

by Thomas DeBaggio

Adeptly navigating between elegy and celebration, fear and determination, confusion and clarity, DeBaggio delivers an exquisitely moving and inspiring book that will resonate with all those who have grappled with their own or their loved ones' memory loss and with death.With his first memoir, Losing My Mind, Thomas DeBaggio stunned readers by laying bare his faltering mind in a haunting and beautiful meditation on the centrality of memory to human life, and on his loss of it to early-onset Alzheimer's disease. In this second extraordinary narrative, he confronts the ultimate loss: that of life. And as only DeBaggio could, he treats death as something to honor, to marvel at, to learn from. Charting the progression of his disease with breathtaking honesty, DeBaggio deftly describes the frustration, grief, and terror of grappling with his deteriorating intellectual faculties. Even more affecting, the prose itself masterfully represents the mental vicissitudes of his disease—DeBaggio's fragments of memory, observation, and rumination surface and subside in the reader's experience much as they might in his own mind. His frank, lilting voice and abundant sense of wonder bind these fragments into a fluid and poetic portrait of life and loss. Over the course of the book, DeBaggio revisits many of the people, places, and events of his life, both in his memory and in fact. In a sense, he is saying goodbye, paying his respects to the world as it recedes from him—and it is a poignant irony that even as this happens, he is at the height of his remarkable descriptive powers. In his moments of clarity, his love for life's details only grows deeper and richer: the limestone creek where he has fished for years; his satisfying and lonely herb farming days; the goldfish pond his son designed and built in his backyard in honor of DeBaggio's passion for "any hole in the ground with some liquid in it"; the thirty years in his beloved home in Arlington, Virginia; his early career as a muckraker; the innumerable precious moments spent with his wife and son; his belated grief over his parents' deaths.

When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans

by Ph.D. Paula J. Caplan

Why are those devastated by war or other military experiences called mentally ill? The standard treatment of therapy and drugs can actually be harmful, and huge numbers of suffering veterans from earlier eras demonstrate its inadequacy. Most of us are both war-illiterate and military-illiterate. Caplan proposes that we welcome veterans back into our communities and listen to their experiences, one-on-one. Beginning a long overdue national discussion about the realities of war and the military will help us bridge the dangerous chasms between veterans and nonveterans.

When Less Is More: The Complete Guide for Women Considering Breast Reduction Surgery

by Bethanne Snodgrass

If you have ever thought that your breasts are too big, this book is for you. Do you suffer from chronic back and neck pain? Do you struggle to sit up straight? What about frequent headaches or hand numbness? Disabling muscle and joint pain, discolored shoulder grooves from your bra straps, and rashes under your breasts are just some of the symptoms caused by heavy breasts. Many large-breasted women also suffer psychologically from poor body image and unwanted sexual attention. Sound familiar? If so, When Less Is More will provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision about a procedure that can transform your life.Breast reduction is among the top ten most commonly performed major plastic surgical procedures, as common as facelift surgery. Most women experience dramatic symptom relief and emotional benefits after the procedure. In fact, the vast majority of women who have breast reduction surgery would have it again or recommend it to a friend. Even celebrities are speaking out about their breast reductions and the life-changing benefits they have experienced as a result. However, making the decision to have surgery can be difficult, and most women consider it for years before taking action. Unfortunately, despite the media attention and increasing frequency of the procedure, there is an alarming lack of accurate information regarding the surgery and its indications. Many doctors still recommend weight loss as an effective way to reduce breast size without scientific evidence to support this approach. Insurance companies often further confuse and complicate matters by using strict, one-size-fits-all guidelines to determine coverage eligibility. When Less Is More offers much-needed help for women suffering with large breasts by providing reliable information to help them answer critical questions:Will the surgery help me?Are there alternatives to surgery?How do I find a good doctor?Will my insurance pay for the surgery?It also includes immediate steps you can take to help relieve pain, such as finding a well-fitting bra, and features a fully illustrated physical therapy program. To help you face surgery with confidence, Dr. Snodgrass also discusses many details that doctors don’t have time to tell you.You may be a teenager trying to hide your breast size, a corporate executive, a stay-at-home mom, or a grandmother with deep grooves in your shoulders from your bra straps. Whoever you are or whatever your circumstances, the bottom line is you want to look and feel better. Breast reduction is one of the most effective surgeries available to help you do that, and When Less Is More gives you the essential information you need.

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