The Trauma Chronicles

by Stephen Westaby

Overview

Ever wondered what it's like to hold a human heart in your hands?

This book takes you on a riveting journey through the life and career of Stephen Westaby, a world-renowned heart surgeon. From his humble beginnings to his tireless pursuit of perfection, Westaby's story is one of resilience, determination, and an unyielding commitment to saving lives.

Can Westaby maintain his relentless drive in the face of numerous triumphs and failures, and the emotional toll of his profession? And how does he navigate the challenges of healthcare systems in the UK and the US?

Every decision Westaby makes in the operating theatre could mean the difference between life and death for his patients.

Reading this book is an emotional rollercoaster ride, packed with gripping tales of emergency surgeries and life-threatening situations that will leave you in awe of the resilience of the human spirit.

Stephen Westaby, a world-renowned heart surgeon, has worked at prestigious institutions such as Harefield Hospital and the cardiothoracic centre in Oxford, and has trained alongside some of the greatest pioneers of cardiac surgery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781912914746
Publisher:	Mensch Publishing
Publication date:	12/01/2023
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Having spent his childhood in the backstreets of a northern steel town, Stephen Westaby went on to become one of the world's preeminent heart surgeons. His drive for perfection in his profession took him to the world-renowned Harefield Hospital, the foremost heart surgery centre in Birmingham, Alabama, the newly-created Cardiothoracic Centre in Oxford, and then in 2019 in Wuhan he was the first Western doctor to learn about Covid before the virus was identified.

Editorial Reviews

Raw and moving… the writing is thrilling. Fragile Lives is a frank and absorbing memoir by a man who has done about as much good to his fellow human beings as it is possible to do in one life time.” —The Times, Book of the Week

“The stakes could not be higher in this bloody, muscular and adrenaline-charged memoir from a pioneering heart surgeon… at points it made my own heart race dangerously. 'Surgeons are meant to be objective,' Westaby tells himself, 'not human'. What makes this book so fascinating, and so moving, is the terrible tension between these necessary qualities.” —The Sunday Times

“A full-frontal and thrilling portrayal. Each story in this fascinating book brings a new nail-biting surgical adventure… A gifted surgeon, Westaby is also a natural writer… Fragile Lives succeeds on many levels: political battle cry, chronicle of bloody feats, history of modern cardiology, tribute to patients and paean to surgery.” —The Daily Telegraph

“Westaby is everything you would hope from a maverick surgical genius: authoritative, engaged, passionate and opinionated. His book, annoyingly well written for someone who has penned only medical papers and handbooks, reads like a thriller, except with rather more corpses. You race to each chapter's end to see if his certain-to-die patient survives.” —The Times

“The book is a cracking example of a thriving sub-genre of autobiography, the medical memoir. Anyone who enjoyed the 2014 bestseller Do No Harm by the brain surgeon Henry Marsh, a friend of Westaby's, will relish Fragile Lives, too. Each story is gripping, written in a vivid, almost brutal way that matches the blood and gore of cardiac surgery.” —Financial Times

From the Publisher