Author Description

On an unseasonably warm evening on the last Sunday in April, 2007, an unfamiliar caller telephoned from a familiar place about her brother. The content of the message gave all of the suggestive wrappings of an invitation. However, this one was cryptic; mysterious perhaps even ominous. The message was succinct and yet complex at the same time. The traditional format of invitations to events, celebrations, and even social fellowship soon gave way to a veiled urgency insulating a critical need. To fully unmask the identity of this solicitation and respond to a dire demand, a seismic troubling of the water, the very boundaries of family, but specifically brother and sister relationships, would ensue. Why Can't I Just Be His Sister? is one woman's bold intrusion into the private and closely held world of medicine and delimiting medical prognoses. She deliberately avoided conforming to the protocol of diminutive silence, often expected from outsiders, to engage in a fierce battle for his dignity. Is it possible for one voice to shatter a standard operating principal template for medical care and compel a host of practitioners and systems to move outside of the box of conservative pessimism? Her journey and often scavenger-like hunt is a sometimes awkward, and frequently, a disconcerting behind the scenes view at vigilance, adrenalin, disproportionate family affection and commitment, on a David and Goliath stage. Some chapters are evidentiary witnesses of fortitude, standing and refusing to yield against seemingly invincible odds. This story reveals not only the onion-like layers which encase the true covenant of medicine, but also her efforts that appear virtually tireless, to establish sustainable ways for this gated community to "first do no harm." Her brother suffered a medical anomaly that evolved into repetitive medical crises of catastrophic dimensions. The lifesaving efforts were exceptional. However, when the forecasted expected outcomes emerged within a conventio