Shane Neilson is a brilliant writer and his work deserves to be better known. There hasnt been such a poignant and harrowing memoir of fatherhood in Canada since Ian Browns The Boy in The Moon. Karen Connelly, author of The Change Room Saving, Dr. Shane Neilsons brilliant, breathless memoir of his quadruple role of father-doctor-patient-and-husband is a heart-stopper. The compassionate physician catapults us into his young sons epileptic seizures, his delicate daughters responses in poems with suicidal thoughts, his own epilepsy and inherited mental illness and, last, the work-life see-saw with his level-headed veterinarian wife. Stunningly candid, this story of a young family whiplashed by the very medical system Neilson is part of lets vulnerability triumph as illnesses and remedies spin. Where is the line between devotion and self-care? It shifts hourly in Neilsons profound book. Much gets saved in Saving: four splendid, embattled livesplus sanity, creativity, and wonder. Molly Peacock, author of The Analyst and The Paper Garden "Candidly engaging, emotional poignant, impressively informative, and ultimately inspiring, Saving: A Doctor's Struggle to Help His Children is an extraordinary memoir and one that will be of extraordinary interest to anyone facing the often daunting task of securing appropriate and adequate health care for their own families." Midwest Book Review
