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whatsallyreadnext 's review for:
The Story of a Heart
by Rachel Clarke
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
I had been interested in reading this book ever since it made this year's longlist for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction and when it won the highly coveted prize last month, I decided it was about time that I finally read it!
At the centre of The Story of a Heart, it tells the true story of two families who will forever be connected together by one heart. When nine-year-old Keira tragically dies in a car crash, her family make the generous decision to donate her organs as they knew she would have wanted to be a donor.
Her heart saved the life of nine-year-old Max who had been fighting a rare virus which had impacted his heart and he had been hospitalised for nearly a year whilst on the transplant waiting list. Max inadvertently became the face of a campaign to change the UK laws around organ donation, where people would have to opt out of being a donor, rather than having to opt in. The news coverage of Max ultimately helped both sets of families to find one another and connect.
Dr Rachel Clarke did a lot of research by conducting countless interviews with the families and doctors involved in Keira and Max's lives and intersperses their story with historical research about how organ transplant has evolved over the years. It was incredibly informative and really showed the power of medicine. I did find it to be a tough and emotional read, given the subject and had to read it quite slowly as it wasn't one that I wanted to binge-read. I hope more people decide to read this book and become inspired to join the Organ Donor Register if they aren't already.
At the centre of The Story of a Heart, it tells the true story of two families who will forever be connected together by one heart. When nine-year-old Keira tragically dies in a car crash, her family make the generous decision to donate her organs as they knew she would have wanted to be a donor.
Her heart saved the life of nine-year-old Max who had been fighting a rare virus which had impacted his heart and he had been hospitalised for nearly a year whilst on the transplant waiting list. Max inadvertently became the face of a campaign to change the UK laws around organ donation, where people would have to opt out of being a donor, rather than having to opt in. The news coverage of Max ultimately helped both sets of families to find one another and connect.
Dr Rachel Clarke did a lot of research by conducting countless interviews with the families and doctors involved in Keira and Max's lives and intersperses their story with historical research about how organ transplant has evolved over the years. It was incredibly informative and really showed the power of medicine. I did find it to be a tough and emotional read, given the subject and had to read it quite slowly as it wasn't one that I wanted to binge-read. I hope more people decide to read this book and become inspired to join the Organ Donor Register if they aren't already.