NNLM Reading Club

Featured Health Topic: Inherited Diseases

We inherit many things from the people who went before us – our physical characteristics, aspects of our personality and, sometimes, our health. December’s Reading Club selections discuss inherited diseases, focusing specifically on cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell disease, and cancer caused by the BRCA mutation. Perhaps you know someone facing one of these illnesses or another inherited disease. Perhaps you would just like to know more about what it is like to deal with such illnesses. Either way, each of these books will provide you with a first-hand account.

In Resurrection Lily, Amy Byer Shainman discusses her experiences after learning that she inherited a BRCA gene mutation that put her at high risk of developing certain cancers. She struggles with preventively removing her breasts even when she does not have a breast cancer diagnosis. The late Mallory Smith tells how she faced the daily challenges of cystic fibrosis in a diary she left behind in hope of aiding others who live with the disease in Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life.  In A Sick Life: TLC ‘n Me: Stories from On and Off the Stage, singer Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins recounts her experiences as a member of the all-time best-selling American female music group and as a person with a particularly challenging form of sickle-cell disease.

To learn more about these books and their authors – and to find related information from the National Library of Medicine and other authoritative sources – visit NNLM Reading Club’s Inherited Diseases page.