One Gift of Grace: My Path Through to the Other Side of Disease

by Janet Smith

Diagnosed in 2000 with rare bone marrow disease, author Janet Smith refused to give in, or up. Three years after the transplant that saved her life, she decided to write down her thoughts in order to reconcile her emotional journey. The result is this book, meant to help others who might also be coping with illness.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1419647695
• ISBN13: 9781419647697
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Booksurge Publishing
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Grace is earned not given

Dr. Janet Smith has written a courageous book that brings to life the real human struggle of accepting one's mortality while discovering one's innate spirituality and the appreciation of Grace. Being taken as close to death as medical science can take anyone, she recounts her resurrection from its cold painful grip in clear understandable language. Dr. Smith recounts how she survives this difficult and painful journey because of her sister's healthy life saving stem cells that were transplanted into her as she danced the thin line between life and death. While fighting for her own life, Dr. Smith experiences the passing of several of her new friends who lost their fight for life in the transplant ward. Her life saving experience was further complicated by the tragedy of 9/11 as her admission to the hospital paralleled the event. Along the journey, Dr. Smith exposes the strengths and the glaring weaknesses of today's modern healthcare system. Throughout all this, Dr. Smith weaves her growing appreciation of humankind's transcendent spirituality. As a living example of the value of stem cell transplants, her life validates the need for stem cell research while encouraging the debate over its ethical use. Reading this book about her journey will help people balance both the cold science with the loving Grace that comes from having escaped death's cold grasp. This is a necessary read for those on either or both sides of the stem cell argument. Most importantly, it may help to bring them closer together. Dr. Smith has written a book that will help everyone appreciate the balance that is needed between science and spirituality. She gracefully reveals both are necessary for a healthy life.

Everyman's Odyssey

ONE GIFT OF GRACE, by Dr. Janet Smith, is testament to the most human of ironies: That nothing enhances the value of life like the prospect, impending or distant, of losing it. Subtitled MY PATH THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE OF DISEASE, she recounts her journey, her odyssey, as Everyman, faced with the awe-filled challenge of a dread disease that threatens being. She appears better prepared than the rest of us to confront some of the medical mysteries presented by AMM (agnogenic myeloid metaphasia) because of her schooling and practice as research chemist and Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine. Indeed, one of the excellent features in this biographical journal is her knowledge and explanation of the biology and pathology of her disease, clearly describing to the reader what is happening as she battles AMM. But more engaging for us are the other questions that are tacitly posed for someone in her predicament: "What are the values, my values, that have animated my life?' What are the spiritual resources which this daughter of the South, one of five loving and well-loved children, draws upon on this seemingly chaotic pathway through disease and disorder? Well, a bit of wry humor, as the epigraph to one chapter tells us: "Doctor, heal thyself! Trouble was I was a tired old horse doc." But also the other "virtues," like love, honesty, and courage, drawn from herself and others, along the way. We all come to realize that life is an odyssey, not because we bumble through it, but because we discover ourselves and others in the passage. Dr. Smith hints at some of her most important discoveries by quoting Marcel Proust, Emerson, and contemporary writers: "We don't receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take us or spare us." (Proust) "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old response." (Emerson) At a critical point in her book, Dr. Smith speaks of the transformation from doctor to patient. But read carefully and you may discover a further transformation to an existential being. I even hear Biblical echoes of St. Paul's "putting on the New Man." Like all good biographies, this is a book of self discovery. It teaches us that the heart often discovers what the mind forgets. Just what, exactly, is this gift of grace on the other side of her disease? Take the journey with her.

Love, laughter and just making it through

It made me laugh and it made me cry! I found it to be an honest look at how cancer affects oneself, family and friends. Dr. Smith has told her story with great candor, wit, wisdom and yes...grace! I recommend it for anyone dealing with the realities of cancer (or any life-threatening illness) either as the patient or as part of their family and friend support system. There is a wealth of information here for everyone. I found it uplifing and have recommended the book to my friends.

A wonderful and touching story

This book is beautifully written. The author's brave fight for her life is awe-inspiring. I believe it is a must-read for anyone struggling with a life-threatening illness, but I would also recommend it for their families and friends. As a social worker in the medical field, I will be recommending it to my clients and families.

A brave journey

I have just gotten through reading this book and enjoyed the book very much. I think it should be so helpful to people that are faced with the same or even similar surgeries. It should also be very helpful to the families and what they can expect and how they can be helpful to the patient. So often the ones that are looking on feel so very helpless with the ones they love and don't know how to deal with them. Again, thanks so much for writing this book. Marie(Jane)Enman