Author |
: Michael Downing |
Publisher |
: Catapult |
Total Pages |
: 208 |
Release |
: 2009-09-10 |
ISBN-10 |
: 9781582439471 |
ISBN-13 |
: 1582439478 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (71 Downloads) |
Book Synopsis Life with Sudden Death by : Michael Downing
Download or read book Life with Sudden Death written by Michael Downing and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2009-09-10 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The youngest of nine children, Michael Downing was three when his father died — suddenly and inexplicably. No autopsy was performed. The family diagnosis was God's will. As a boy, Downing rigorously trained as a spiritual athlete, preparing to vault into heaven. But eventually he escaped the religious dogma, and the family arena — until one of his brothers died in 2003, suddenly and inexplicably. No autopsy was performed. Alarmed, Downing pursued a diagnosis: Drawn into a world of researchers, clinicians, and manufacturers with their own arcane ethics and faith, Downing discovered he had inherited a mutant protein from his father, and the first symptom would be his sudden death. To save his life, a defibrillator was hard–wired to his heart. Within weeks, he needed emergency surgery to remove the device and the life–threatening infection he got with it. Two months later, he was re–implanted — only to read in his morning newspaper that the new wires anchored to his heart were prone to failure. His device might be powerless, or it might deliver a series of unwarranted, possibly fatal, shocks. From a bedeviled boyhood in the Berkshires to a grim comedy of errors in one of Boston's best hospitals, Life with Sudden Death is a wild ride.