Breaking Little Bones: triumph and trauma, the first cures of childhood leukemia

by G. Bennett Humphrey

In this profound, complex story, G. Bennett Humphrey, MD, PhD, chronicles his year on 2 East, a pediatric leukemia floor. Doctors are fighting a presumedmortality rate of 100 percent, but the cost of finding a cure weighs heavily on their hearts. The cure rate for the children of 2 East in 1964 will turn out to be 15 percent. With almost no training in pediatrics and no experience with chemotherapy, the author confronts an entirely different world. From the beginning he is amazed by the strength of the mothers, the compassion of the nurses, and the admirable ways the children themselves cope with this devastating illness. Breaking Little Bones combines the personal and the scientific in poignant moments. It is both an overview of the revolutionary medical progress made in treating acute lymphocytic leukemia in 1964 and an honest narrative of what it was like to be there. Humphrey knew these kids. He knew Todd, who loved words, and Polly, who held her bald head proudly. He formed a brotherly bond with his team members, and he had to figure out his own unique way to cope with the grief. This transformative look into one of the most heartbreaking areas of medicine digs deep, revealing what we can learn about truly living from those facing an early death.

366 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 2016

About the author

G. Bennett Humphrey, MD, PhD, completed his graduate studies in medicine and biochemistry at the University of Chicago. Following the events of this book, he retrained in pediatrics, with oncology and hematology as his subspecialties. He taught pediatric oncology at a number of universities, including as a visiting professor in Japan, Europe, and the United States.

Over his career Humphrey has written numerous articles and chapters and has edited several pediatric oncology books. In 2013 his chapbook entitled The Magpie Cried, containing poems about his youth, was published. That year he was named Senior Poet Laureate of Colorado. Three short stories from this book have been published previously, two by Whispering Angel Press and the other by Johns Hopkins University Press. Humphrey currently splits time between his apartment in Boulder, Colorado, and a cabin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at ninety-three hundred feet, just north of the New Mexico border.

Reviews

[Amy Rivers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breaking Little Bones: Triumph and Trauma, the First Cures of Childhood Leukemia by G Bennett Humphrey was both a heart-wrenching and endearingly hopeful story of a young doctor’s time on the children’s leukemia ward at NIH in 1964. The book is an account of important clinical trials that were integral in curing childhood leukemia, but more than that, it’s a story of the human spirit. The children and families of 2 East were brought to life in stunningly aching detail. As a mother, I wanted to cuddle each child and console their courageous mothers. Having worked with nurses, I was unsurprised, and yet still awed, by the devotion and care that the ward nurses had for their patients and colleagues.

Dr. Humphrey, as an internist, was unprepared and out of his league for his year-long stint as a clinical associate on 2 East. What I loved most about Humphrey’s account is the honest look he took at his own part of the story. Humphrey and his colleagues survive the year through camaraderie, humor, and, in Humphrey’s case, poetry and horses. At times they are angry or indignant, heartbroken or despondent, but mostly kind, caring, and concerned, which speaks mountains to the strength of character of each doctor. Humphrey considers the people with whom he interacted, from fellow doctors to the patients themselves, thoughtfully and with great humility.

Despite the subject matter, the book is easy to read and Humphrey develops each character with depth, paying lasting tribute to the children, the families and the medical personnel who were tasked with making terrible and often objectionable medical decisions in the name of the greater good. It’s not a medical book (well, it is, but…), it’s a fascinating and thought-provoking look at humanity in the face of adversity.

[David Z Hirsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fascinating memoir opens a window to the world of 1964 and 1965, the early days of chemo protocols to treat childhood leukemia. The author gives us a front row seat and we feel his pain as he treats a series of children suffering through chemo cycles for one last promise of a cure. I had to put this book down numerous times, but I was always drawn back into it. While the story is dark, within the sadness lies hope and love. This is a challenging but worthwhile read.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible read. Not for the faint of heart.

Having worked in peds oncology for several years I can say with relief that prognoses have improved since Dr Humphrey was on 2 East, but so many aspects of the children’s care remain the same. The same drugs, same courses, same heartbreak.

Grateful for the work done by Dr. Humphrey and the others on 2 East and other institutions to lay the foundations of treatment and care for the children fighting cancer today.

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