Another one read (yayy!)

Death Be Not Proud, by John Gunther. Something reminded me of this book not too long ago, and it just so happened that the Book Rack had a copy in good condition. I started this book when I was in high school. I was drawn to it then b/c it recounts the final months of a 17 year old boy, diagnosed with a brain tumor. While I identified with the Johnny Gunther because of his age, I simply was not ready, i.e. mature enough to read the book, so I didn't finish it.

Some 30 years later, I finished it. Now I identify with it as a parent. The horror, the tragedy of a life prematurely ended was heart-wrenching.

Reading about the medical aspects was a reminder of how far medical science has come. Johnny died in 1947. There were no CT scans or MRIs. Locating the tumor prior to an attempt to remove it was done solely with the use of x-ray. Non-experimental treatment consisted of removal of what could be removed and radiation. There was no chemotherapy. Mustard (as in mustard gas) seems to have been an early form of chemotherapy, but was still very much in the experimental stage. Various other treatments were tried in an attempt to save Johnny's life--a very severed diet that limited the fats and proteins a patient could eat may have played some role in staving off deaath for a time, but ultmately, there was so little knowledge.

Yet, in the past 60 years, despite all of the technological and scientific advances, glioblastoma multiformae is still an almost certain death sentence. Senator Kennedy was diagnosed with a glioma about a month ago, and although no one will say it explicitly, his obituary has essentially already been written. My former student Marina died of this affliction less than a year after she was diagnosed. Gliomas are still essentially incurable.

So, Johnny's father describes the grace and courage with which Johnnny faced his illness. I can't say death, because Johnny's parent never told him explicitly that he was dying--it was never clear if he knew. And that highlights another difference between now and then. Now, the conventional wisdom is to tell adults that they are dying and to not hide it from children. Johnny was close enough to legal adulthood that no doubt today, he would have been told of his impending death so that he could prepare in his own way.

Nonetheless, it is powerful book. Life is precious, and one should seek to live a life well, even if the alloted time is short. I understand why it has never been taken out of publication since its publication in 1949.