Medical journalist for the Washingtonian magazine, Pekkanen has written an absorbing and moving book that follows the donation of organs from a young women after her death in an automobile accident. The reader follows the work of Jo Leslie and her staff at the Maryland Organ Procurement Center as they race against time to place two kidneys and two corneas in patients in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Ohio. It is a fascinating story that highlights the anguish and drama of organ donation. The reader gains an understanding of the emotions felt by the families, as well as insight into the politics and barriers faced in organ procurement. A very emotional chapter relating a meeting between the donor's family and that of the four-year-old recipient of their daughter's kidney concludes this fine work.

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