Lest We Forget: A Doctor's Experience with Life and Death During the Ebola Outbreak

by Kwan Kew Lai

In 2014 after fighting through yards of bureaucratic red tape, leaving her family, and putting her own health at risk in order to help suffering strangers, Kwan Kew Lai finally arrived in Africa to volunteer as an infectious disease specialist in the heart of the largest Ebola outbreak in history. What she found was not only blistering heat, inadequate working conditions, and deadly, unrelenting illness, but hope, resilience, and incredible courage.

Lest We Forget chronicles the harrowing and inspiring time spent serving on the front lines of the ongoing Ebola outbreak--the complicated personal protective equipment, the chlorine-scented air, the tropical heat, and the heartbreaking difficulties of treating patients she could not touch. Dr. Lai interweaves original diary entries to create a gripping narrative about life, death, and human relationships that will leave no reader unmoved.

This book exposes the raw brutality of Ebola, as well as the chaotic nature of the undersupplied and understaffed health infrastructure in the developing world. At once a memoir of triumphs and failures and a memorial, this book will ensure that the victims of Ebola and the fighters who sought to heal them will not be forgotten.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published October 9, 2018

About the author

Originally from Penang, Malaysia, Kwan Kew Lai received a full scholarship from Wellesley College. She is a Harvard Medical Faculty Physician with a specialty in infectious disease. In 2005, she left her position as a Professor of Medicine to dedicate time to humanitarian work; in HIV/AIDS in Africa and provides disaster relief all over the world, during wars, famine, natural disasters, including the Ebola outbreak, the Syrian, Rohingya refugee crises, Yemen, and the COVID-19 pandemic in New York and the Navajo Nation. Her book debut, Lest We Forget: A Doctor’s Experience with Life and Death During the Ebola Outbreak chronicles her time in Liberia and Sierra Leone caring for Ebola patients during the greatest Ebola outbreak in the world. Into Africa, Out of Academia: A Doctor's Memoir came out in October 2020.
Her upcoming book, The Girl Who Taught Herself to Fly will be out this October 2022.
She lives in Boston.

Reviews

[DAGMARA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great to read a first hand account from a member of two humanitarian missions. Written by a physician specialized in infectious disease, her desire to help brought her first to Liberia and later on to a second volunteer situation in Sierra Leon to treat patients afflicted with this terrible deadly viral disease.
This is an important book -as are other books I've read by medical combat support personnel who served in Vietnam and Iraq, since they all share experiences few medical folks have had or will ever experience. I can't even begin to imagine a situation where only about a quarter of the otherwise healthy patients on the ward will survive despite your very best efforts to get them through an illness. Then of course there is also the personal risk involved, the extent to which you have to put your own health at risk to help others. Dr. Lai also describes the obstacles she faced in returning home to the U.S. generated by fear of contacting this infection. Dr. Lai, thank your! Wonderful you took the time to share your experiences with the rest of us!

[Viva Editions · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike other books about ebola and infectious diseases, this book brings the human side back to humanitarian aid and efforts. In this first-person look behind the front lines of one of the most deadly disease outbreaks in modern history, Kwan Kew Lai provides a unique and inspirational perspective about how and why the work volunteers do is so important. Your appreciation for human life and the capacity for the human spirit will be emboldened through the many tales of lives lost and saved within the pages of Lest We Forget.

[John Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about the heroes of the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa

Great story about Ebola, the outbreak in 2014 in West Africa and the patients affected by the virus as well as the healthcare heroes who risked their lives to care for those infected with the virus. Really made the outbreak real, and gives a new sense of appreciation for those who volunteered to help during this humanitarian crisis. A Really interesting read.

[stella yip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be my first autobiography book written by a Malaysian doctor. Well, in health care professional line, facing death is inevitable. We all eventually die, it's just a matter of time. Of course, no one wants to die yet, so do i. But in terms of sickness, disease or infection will kill you regardless of age, gender, status or race. I myself work in the healthcare professional line, I've seen death countless of time. Yes, it is extremely sad and disappointing when a patient has passed away under your care. You would question yourself, did you do your best or you could have done more for the patient? I believe this question only you, yourself can answer it. Treating a patient takes a whole team of people, the doctors, the nurse, the pharmacist and also family members. Sometimes when all the members did their very best, the patient might still passed away. We are, not God at the end of the day. What we can do is to provide the best treatment to ease the patient's discomfort, until the time has come.

Getting back to this book, Ebola is a very infectious disease. It can easily spread just as much as a handshake. Therefore, most of the people has stigma against it and also discriminate Ebola survivors as much as the volunteers who are exposed to Ebola patients. The entire journey of Ebola was well written in this book, and there are some political part of it too. In conclusion, I do enjoyed reading this book as it gives me a view of a life being a healthcare volunteer and the mental and physical preparation that are required before doing it.

[Lynne Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

EdicationAl

Very much worth reading to keep in our minds the suffering in other parts of the world and be motivated to help.