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No Ordinary People
Extraordinary stories of women
facing breast cancer.
Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News
S
Robert P. Di Pilla, DDS PC
,
Aesthetic and Rejuvenation Dentistry
RECOGNIZED BY
AS ONE OF 2007'S TOP
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he wanted the truth, and
if she didn't get it, she was
going to give the doctor a
"Glasgow kiss.”
"What's a Glasgow kiss?" Dr. David
Nathanson asked.
She was a diminutive woman
— from Scotland, of course — with
thick glasses, the kind that make the
eyes look a bit syrupy. Her physician
was tall and confident.
"She got a little gleam in her eye
Dr. Nathanson says, and she stood on
the tips of her toes, "grabbed the lapels
event will be held at the JCC in West
Bloomfield as part of the sixth annual
Health Awareness Day.
"Dr. Nathanson's book is a tribute to
the courageous fight his patients have
mounted against breast cancer:' said
Book Fair Director Heidi Budaj. "The
stories in his book are both moving
and inspiring."
The Beginnings
A native of South Africa, Dr.
Nathanson came to the United States
to train as a surgeon. His first interest
was pediatrics, but it was too pain-
ful to see children who would never
recover. His next stop was immunol-
"That's when all the hope comes
out, the feeling of 'Gee, I made it'
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Dr. David
Nathanson
on my jacket and, with a sudden,
sharp movement, banged her forehead
into mine."
Dr. Nathanson still laughs at this
story from many years ago, laughs
nicely, not just because the whole idea
of it is so silly but because of the ten-
der intimacy of a moment that might
otherwise have been horrid.
The truth she wanted: Was it cancer?
Dr. Nathanson is director of Breast-
Care Services at the Detroit-based
Henry Ford Health System. In his new
book, Ordinary Miracles, he invited
breast-cancer survivors to tell their
stories: what it's like to hear you have
cancer, living through radiation, che-
motherapy and surgery, what a patient
needs from her physician and how,
despite everything, the human heart
never gives up the ability to hope.
Dr. Nathanson will speak about
Ordinary Miracles at 9:30 a.m. Friday,
Nov. 16, at the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan Detroit's 56th
annual Jewish Book Fair. The free
ogy research, with the goal of becom-
ing a transplant surgeon. But as his
training continued, he kept coming
back to cancer, where he ultimately
decided to stay.
Like surgery, producing a book was
both a brave and delicate task. He had
been considering the idea fora while.
"Every time I would meet with new
patients, they were always quite happy
to share their stories with me:' he says.
"I love stories and I felt very privileged
listening to them."
One patient asked: "What is it like to
be a physician and hear all these sto-
ries?" He told her it was unforgettable.
She responded: "You should write a
book." Thus Ordinary Miracles began.
Dr. Nathanson was certain it would
be easy. So many women had been
eager to speak of what it was like to
have cancer; surely they would be
happy to write about their experi-
ences, as well.
No Ordinary People on page A38