Raising Lazarus

<I>Raising Lazarus</I> is Dr. Robert Pensack's personal memoir of his battle to maintain his sanity in the face of extraordinary suffering.</p><p>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.</p><p>From recounting his feeling of being condemned to an existence laden with insufferable burden to the hope restored through the ultimate gift of life <I>Raising Lazarus</I> is Dr. Pensack's inspirational story of survival and triumph.</p><p>Extraordinary...A doctor's memoir of his struggle against his own illness...An intimate account of the remarkable medical advances of the last few decades from [a] unique point of view.--<i>New York Times Book Review</i></p>