Breaking Little Bones (2016)
In this profound, complex story, G. Bennett Humphrey, MD, PhD, chronicles his year on 2 East, a pediatric leukemia floor. Doctors are fighting a presumedmortality rate of 100 percent, but the cost of finding a cure weighs heavily on their hearts. The cure rate for the children of 2 East in 1964 will turn out to be 15 percent.
With almost no training in pediatrics and no experience with chemotherapy, the author confronts an entirely different world. From the beginning he is amazed by the strength of the mothers, the compassion of the nurses, and the admirable ways the children themselves cope with this devastating illness. Breaking Little Bones combines the personal and the scientific in poignant moments. It is both an overview of the revolutionary medical progress made in treating acute lymphocytic leukemia in 1964 and an honest narrative of what it was like to be there. Humphrey knew these kids. He knew Todd, who loved words, and Polly, who held her bald head proudly. He formed a brotherly bond with his team members, and he had to figure out his own unique way to cope with the grief. This transformative look into one of the most heartbreaking areas of medicine digs deep, revealing what we can learn about truly living from those facing an early death. |
Praise for Breaking Little Bones
I read Breaking Little Bones from cover to cover. I learned a lot about the travails of the “Clinical Associates” on the service. I was amazed at the details of events that occurred 50 years ago. Congratulations on a GREAT contribution to the History of Medicine.
Emil J Freireich, M.D., D.Sc. (In 1964 Sr. Staff NCI Supervisor of 2 East)Retired Distinguished Professor, Univ. of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Humphrey’s book; Breaking Little Bones, serves as a permanent record of the vision in the early 1960s of the pioneers of NIH’s anti-leukemia chemotherapy protocols and the courage of the children on 2 East who made it possible to break through the mind-set that acute leukemia was inevitably fatal.
S. Gerald Sandler, MD, FACP, FCAP, Professor of Medicine and Pathology,
Georgetown University Medical Center
No question Breaking Little Bones is worth reading, and it clearly serves the purpose of presenting and describing the mix of triumph and trauma of medical battle with ALL back in the 60s. What differentiates it from many other books dealing with struggle associated with early treatments in cardiology, oncology, and transplantation is the other side of a coin – the toll taken on medics involved. The author describes the moral/ethical dilemma and emotional devastation very well. What makes this point stronger is that this emotional turmoil was not limited to the author but all 3 of the clinical associates and in fact the entire staff of 2 East, although the author makes the personal confession.
M.B. H. Murawska, PhD Basic scientist in cell biology andproject manager of global clinical trials CBO.
As several individuals have stated in the “Advanced Praise and Commentary” section of Breaking Little Bones, Dr. Humphrey’s book should be read by all people who care for children and young adults who have various forms of cancer.
Taking it a step further, I believe that the book is a “must” read for almost everyone who is involved with the care of pediatric patients, so that these providers, in the broadest sense, will have some insight into what the patients, families, nurses, physicians, social workers, go through daily, in the care of children with cancer.
Lawrence J, Wolff, MD, Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, Hematology/Oncology,
Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, the Oregon Health Science University
Emil J Freireich, M.D., D.Sc. (In 1964 Sr. Staff NCI Supervisor of 2 East)Retired Distinguished Professor, Univ. of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Humphrey’s book; Breaking Little Bones, serves as a permanent record of the vision in the early 1960s of the pioneers of NIH’s anti-leukemia chemotherapy protocols and the courage of the children on 2 East who made it possible to break through the mind-set that acute leukemia was inevitably fatal.
S. Gerald Sandler, MD, FACP, FCAP, Professor of Medicine and Pathology,
Georgetown University Medical Center
No question Breaking Little Bones is worth reading, and it clearly serves the purpose of presenting and describing the mix of triumph and trauma of medical battle with ALL back in the 60s. What differentiates it from many other books dealing with struggle associated with early treatments in cardiology, oncology, and transplantation is the other side of a coin – the toll taken on medics involved. The author describes the moral/ethical dilemma and emotional devastation very well. What makes this point stronger is that this emotional turmoil was not limited to the author but all 3 of the clinical associates and in fact the entire staff of 2 East, although the author makes the personal confession.
M.B. H. Murawska, PhD Basic scientist in cell biology andproject manager of global clinical trials CBO.
As several individuals have stated in the “Advanced Praise and Commentary” section of Breaking Little Bones, Dr. Humphrey’s book should be read by all people who care for children and young adults who have various forms of cancer.
Taking it a step further, I believe that the book is a “must” read for almost everyone who is involved with the care of pediatric patients, so that these providers, in the broadest sense, will have some insight into what the patients, families, nurses, physicians, social workers, go through daily, in the care of children with cancer.
Lawrence J, Wolff, MD, Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, Hematology/Oncology,
Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, the Oregon Health Science University