Book: Salt In My Soul: An Unfinished Life

 Book: Salt In My Soul: An Unfinished Life

Author: Mallory Smith

Pages: 336

This is my 118th read for the year

This is the story of the author.  Diagnosed at 3 years old with Cystic Fibrosis, she knew her time would be short.  She was determined to make the best of it and at the age of 15 she started to record her thoughts and feelings in a private journal.  She left instructions that after she died, she wanted her thoughts to be shared to help others living with CF, other families, and also people in general who didn't know what it was really like to live with this disease.  Mallory was an excellent student who excelled at Standford.  When she graduated, she was helping a local environmentalist write a book.  All of this was inbetween constant hospitalizations and treatments and trying to keep her healthy.  When it finally was time for her to get a lung transplant, her family knew this was going to be the last ditch effort to save her life.  She had a dangerous bacteria that made this surgery dangerous, but it was her only hope.

Mallory died in 2017 at the age os 25.  In the end, the infection she carried infected her new lungs and she couldn't fight it.  Her family continues her legacy today hoping that Mallory's story will help others.

This was a pretty good book.  It is the running thoughts of Mallory from ages 15-25.  At the beginning of the book is her instructions she left her parents in sharing her story and she wanted to share the good and the bad (at the discretion of her parents).  They didn't know she was keeping this journal.  What she went through would make your head spin and wonder how this bright young lady ever had time for college and a job with eveything she was dealing with.  She had a loving and very supportive family.  She had a boyfriend.  She had friends and a life.  But in 2017, Cystic Fibrosis was still a life ending disease around the ages of 18-20 for many patients.  (now there is a treatment that is on new that is unbelievable and you can read more about it HERE)

I took care of a lot of CF patients during my nursing career.  Many during my time at Johns Hopkins.  You grow close to them and care for them because they are constantly hospitalized.  And when they die you mourn for them.  It is an unforgiving disease.  With the new therapies there is hope for these patients that can possibly save their lives.  Incredible.  

I encourage you to read this book.  There is also a documentary (you can watch for free on YouTube) called Salt In My Soul that was equally as good.  

Stars: 4