Reading the memoir was like hearing his inner monologue after all this time. I couldn’t believe the fascinating things he did as a neurosurgery resident (he once said it was like operating on pudding, yet a millimeter can cost someone’s life), which he rarely opened up about. He described what it felt like to transform from a doctor to a patient (“how little do doctors understand the hells through which we put patients”). I was gripped by his thoughts on accepting death when your life feels like it’s just beginning (“the fact of death is unsettling; yet there is no other way to live”); and how to create a meaningful life, even if you have only months left.

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Lucy will be reading from Paul’s book (for which she wrote the epilogue) at BookCourt in Brooklyn this Monday, January 11th; I’m honored to be interviewing her on stage. We would LOVE to see you there, if you are free and would like to come. (There will be wine and cheese, naturally.)

You can find When Breath Becomes Air here, if you’d like. Thank you so much for all your kind words and sweet support over the years. My heart goes out to anyone who is missing someone today. xoxo