Raising Lazarus

by Robert Pensack, Dwight Williams (Collaborator)

A forty-three-year-old physician describes how he was diagnosed with an often fatal cardiac condition at age fifteen and presents poignant memoir of his struggle to become a doctor, raise of family, and, most of all, value life despite adversity.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published September 21, 1994

Reviews

[Jim Gleason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raising Lazarus is Dr. Robert Pensack's personal memoir of his battle to maintain his sanity in the face of extraordinary suffering.Dr. Pensack's story chronicles his near life-long struggle with a mortal illness, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, or HCM (formally known as IHSS), a genetic illness marked by abnormality of the heart muscle. After the disease claimed the life of his young mother, the adolescent Pensack-and his brother Richard, who also suffered from HCM-went on to become chronic-research heart patients at The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. They endured a litany of surgeries and multiple near-death experiences caused by cardiac arrests until, thirty years later, both received heart transplants that saved their lives. Remarkably-and coincidentally-Dr. Pensack played a vital role in the evolution of organ transplantation and in his own survival, helping to produce one of the anti-rejection drugs with which he himself was later treated at the time of his greatest need.From recounting his feeling of being condemned to an existence laden with insufferable burden to the hope restored through the ultimate gift of life, Raising Lazarus is Dr. Pensack's inspirational story of survival and triumph.

see this and more than a hundred other organ donation/transplant related books - many with my personal reviews - at http://www.trioweb.org/resources/book...

[SoulSurvivor · Rating 2 out of 5]

A number of similar books are better , e.g. 'The Last Lecture' and more . This narrative was too
self-centered for my taste .

[Josephine Briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of a man who had IHSS, but wouldn't give up on life.

When Dr. Robert Pensack, a psychiatrist, was four years old , his mother died. She was 31 and died of IHSS. His father and brother were crying. Robert cried too because they were. Robert didn't know anything about death.

Years pass. His father remarries. Florence and daughter, Laurie. Richard has to quit playing sports. Then Robert. Both have defective hearts.

Robert decides to become a doctor. He works jobs in the field of medicine. He goes to Colorado, graduates, then on to medical school. He becomes very ill. Because he had to drop out it took him longer. He gets sick and sicker.

He meets his wife, Abbe. His bad heart didn't chase her away. The couple marry, have two kids.

Dr. Pensack writes of all his operations in detail, all the drugs he had to take, times and visits in hospitals. But he was determined to go on living.

I thought when he received his new heart, his health problems were over. He is wearing the heart of another man. His is gone. He does have many health problems, horrible dreams, but he loves life, loves his wife and kids.

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting medical story giving insight to the emotional side of life threatening medical conditions and their treatment.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Pensack's mother died while he was a child. This was the 50's and after she died no one talked about her or why she died. Later Robert and his brother were both diagnosed with hypertropic cardiomyopathy (or IHSS) and found they had the same disaese as their mother. They both had several surgeries and ended up having heart transplants.
The story is interesting as Robert Pensack was a student when this all started and eventually became a medical doctor. He was intelligent enough to read everything he could find about his condition and treatment. In those days there was no internet to make research easier. Robert spent hours and hours in libraries doing research. When he came up with new ideas that might help him, he would call the doctors involved and many times even go see them.
The book reads like a history of heart problems, treatments and eventually of transplants. He knew many of the pioneers of these fields and was treated by some of them.
Robert Pensack managed somehow to get through medical school and went into psychiatry. When he was very ill Robert had major mental problems. But then the body and mind are so connected and many times we forget this or ignore it. He really did a good job describing what went on in his mind...even when others were assuring him everything would be okay.
In the afterward of the book, Robert Pensack shares..."What have I learned from all of this is that survival is instinctual and life is worth living, and that it is very, very precious."

[Denise Harrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested in this book as Robert Pensack has an incredible true life story to tell. The thought of becoming a doctor to find a cure for your hereditary lethal heart condition, and then to become a psychiatrist to solve the mental instability that arose from the author's trauma he endured from losses in his family and from the medical procedures that he had to endure in an attempt to save his life, so he could be a husband to his wife and a father to his children. I was amazed at the author's journey, and kept wanting to pick the book up every night to see what happened next in the author's story. T

[Carolyn Johnson]

This is a fascinating look at what one man's journey is like after he has to change direction from wanting to be a physician to becoming a psychiatrist after both he and his brother are stricken with a rare and often fatal heart condition. A condition which ran through the family bloodline and took their mother and their innocence as children. It's a compelling story because it demonstrates how one can face near insurmountable odds, and find both courage and wisdom, and use both to further not only your life, but the lives of others, for generations to come.

[Lydel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating true story about a boy with a genetic heart disease (IHSS). This is a powerful story.
As I lived through all his highs and lows, I counted my blessings over and over. I highly recommend
this book.

[Rafi Rosenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, meaningful, well written, pleasure to read!

[Melissa Rasmussen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! Dr. Pensack is so real and honest about his story. I have gained immense respect for the doctor I have already respected since the day I met him.