Other Endings: Organ Transplantation and the Burdens of Hope

In this raw and intimate memoir Anita Slominska recounts her sister Shauna’s eighteen-month wait for a liver transplant that failed to take place in time to save her life. Shauna’s death, at age twenty-nine, defied the usual redemptive promise of a life-saving transplant and forced Slominska to confront difficult questions: Why was she so unprepared for the devastating loss of her sister? Why do so many chronicles of organ transplantation celebrate survival, while few acknowledge failure an...