patients

Michael Gates Gill shares how a job at his local Starbucks helped him rebuild his life after he lost his job and his family, sharing how the job taught him about what was truly important and offering an inside look at life behind the Starbucks' counter.

Examines the experiences of the children and husband of Henrietta Lacks, who, twenty years after her death from cervical cancer in 1951, learned doctors and researchers took cells from her cervix without consent which were used to create the immortal cell line known as the HeLa cell; provides an overview of Henrietta's life; and explores issues of experimentation on African-Americans and bioethics.

Describes the life of American bicycle racing champion Lance Armstrong, including his victories in the Tour de France and his resilience in fighting cancer.

Sixteen-year-old Claire is unable to face her fears about a recurrence of her leukemia, her eating disorder, her need to fit in with the popular crowd on Hackett Island, and her mother's alcoholism until the enigmatic Lani Garver helps her get control of her life at the risk of his own.

A rising high school baseball star faces his most difficult challenge when his father is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Karen Brennan chronicles her struggle to help her daughter Rachel overcome a motorcycle accident which left her with severe brain damage.

Daniel Tammet, an autistic savant, offers an inside look at his life, describing how his rare condition, which gives him incredible mental powers and a compulsive need for order and routine, has influenced every aspect of his life and what challenges he has faced while trying to be independent.

A memoir in which award-winning poet Lucy Grealy recalls her experiences with a potentially terminal cancer that required she have a third of her jaw removed when she was nine years old, and discusses the suffering she endured as she was growing up from classmates, strangers, and other people because of her looks.

A memoir in which Amy Silverstein details her experiences as a heart transplant patient, from her first misdiagnosis to her post-surgical life, a period that included a bedside courtship with her boyfriend, Scott, and a determined quest to have a child.

Baseball player Henry Wiggen relates how he throws a baseball for the sake of his pocket, his family, his teammates, and a dying friend.