Sunday, July 08, 2007

BREATHLESS, A Transplant Surgeon's Journal

BULLETIN - DR. TODD WILL BE AT TORONTO GENERAL HOSPITAL WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2007 FOR AN OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF HIS BOOK AT AN OPEN MEETING OF THE LUNG TRANSPLANT SUPPORT GROUP FROM 11 AM TO 1PM. THERE WILL BE A BOOK SIGNING, MINGLING AND LUNCH. ASTELLAS CONFERENCE ROOM, 11TH FLOOR, NEW CLINICAL SERVICES BUILDING. ALL ARE WELCOME.

Barbara Hall, the wife of the world's first successful lung transplant recipient Tom Hall, brought a copy of this book to the lung transplant picnic and I had a chance to review it. The author, Dr. Thomas Todd, assisted in the first successful lung transplant in the world in November of 1983. Dr. Todd was 38 and the youngest member of a dream team of surgeons at Toronto General Hospital that included Dr. Griff Pearson, Dr. Joel Cooper, Dr. Mel Goldberg, Dr. Alec Patterson and Dr. Bob Ginsberg. These were the innovators who established the legacy of thoracic surgery and lung transplantation that has earned Toronto General Hospital a reputation as one of the world's leading transplant and research centers. This is an invaluable book at a reasonable price for anyone interested in the history of lung transplantation.

Publisher's Press Release
Breathless A Transplant Surgeon’s Journal (270pp, $19.95) by Dr. Thomas R.J. Todd, is primarily a book about people. It relates the human interest stories of lung transplant patients both before and after the team at the University of Toronto performed the world’s first successful single and double lung procedures.

Dr. Todd, who was a member of the original surgical team, participated in many of the early procedures and eventually became the program’s director.

He writes of his adventures with donor runs—including the “bells and whistles” of police transport from airports—and his relationship with his colleagues, staff, and, most importantly, his patients. This personal account, along with the difficulties around the early procedures and the improvements that occurred over time, make for fascinating reading.

Enjoy this sometimes sad, sometimes humorous, but always courageous and inspirational inside look into a remarkable human drama whose real-life characters are true pioneers in Canadian medicine.

Breathless A Transplant Surgeon’s Journal (ISBN#978-1-897113-54-7), by Dr. Thomas R.J. Todd, is published by General Store Publishing House, Renfrew, Ontario, and retails for $19.95. Contact Ann Forgie: Tel: 1-800-465-6072 Fax: (613) 432-7184 or Email


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