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Never Question the Miracle | 
 enlarge | Author: Anthony Santaniello
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $24.94 (100%)
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 1427154
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Pages: 377
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0345407237
Dewey Decimal Number: 617.092
EAN: 9780345407238
ASIN: 0345407237
Publication Date: February 24, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
When people ask, "How did you get here?" I know they are really asking, "How did you, female of color from Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, get here?"
Dr. Rose-Marie Toussaint is unique--a young black woman surgeon specializing in liver and kidney transplants at a major university hospital. How did she get there? In this amazing book Toussaint tells us. Her inspiring story starts when a vodun priest predicts she will grow up to be a physician, then chronicles her rise to the pinnacle of her profession.
Rose-Marie's family struggled not only with her parents' chaotic marriage, but with the seismic changes that were beginning to grip their homeland. When the Toussaints emigrated to Miami, Rose-Marie immersed herself in science and math classes, and her dream of becoming a doctor began to take shape.
But the road to her dream was littered with obstacles: getting into college, making good grades, getting into medical school, and surviving the grueling, soul-crushing rigors that test every surgeon in the making. Add to that Dr. Toussaint's status as a black female in white male-dominated institutions and one can only admire the courage, fortitude, and determination that propelled her to obtain her M.D.--with some help from a few miracles along the way.
As a surgeon, it was her turn to become a miracle worker--for her patients. Dr. Toussaint takes us into hospital rooms to meet desperate patients praying for a life-giving organ, and into the OR to observe the wonder of transplantation. She vividly brings to life the breakneck race against time to prepare transplant patients when an organ suddenly becomes available, the long hours of surgery--sometimes more than 20--that both doctor and patient must endure. And she never forgets that for every life she saves another has been lost.
This is a book full of miracles--not least, Rose-Marie Toussaint's own luminous spirit, which lights up every page. To share her journey is a rare opportunity to experience the faith and resilience of a woman dedicated to making miracles happen.
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| Customer Reviews:
 An inspration for anyone with dreams. February 16, 1998
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Rose-Marie is a friend of mine. Because she is humble and unassuming, I had only a hint of what a treasure load of talent, inspiration and skill she really is. Her book tells her story - a young woman from Haiti, literally pulling herself up by her own boot straps to become a surgeon at Howard University Hospital specializing in liver transplant surgery. She has met every challenge that blacks and women must meet, and she has conquered them all with brilliance and understanding. I hope you have time to look at her book. It's a real inspiration for young people with dreams.
Great Inspirational Guide for all women January 29, 2001
Leela Ashok (Richmond, VA, USA)
Reads like a fantastic novel! Meet Dr. Toussaint at holisticdoctor.org
 One Woman's Struggle & Inspiration November 21, 2002
Alicia Forry (Los Angeles, CA USA)
Rose-Marie Toussaint's autobiographical novel Never Question the Miracle: A Surgeon's Story is a touching tale about the struggles of an African American woman whose lifelong dream is to become a surgeon. In plain and soemtimes simple language, Toussaint transports the reader to various times in her life, each fraught with strong and unique emotion. Toussaint shies away from nothing in this detailed account of her personal triumph over numerous obstacles such as her troubled childhood in Haiti, her draining years at college as a pre-med student, her failed relationships and her long years in residency. It is the story of a journey through life and the importance of not giving up hope.
The book begins with Toussaint struggling amid the limitations of transplant surgery. She tells of sick patients desperately in need of a liver transplant but too poor to afford one, while in another hospital a wealthy patient who lacks the will to survive is given preference because the family can afford to pay for the transplant. She tells of the reality of organ transplantation, how doctors have to fight with insurance companies to convince them to authorize the operations. These social injustices and bureaucratic intricacies of the medical world show the reader that there is much to question about the system. She aligns herself on the side of the poor, often times African American patients, whom she sympathizes with since she herself has had to overcome similar barriers.
The author then turns the spotlight on herself and begins with her autobiography which starts in Haiti; it is a childhood marked by poverty and a strong sense of religion, a blend of both Christianity and voodoo. She examines the various relationships that influenced her childhood and speaks openly about her mother's abusive nature and her father's desertion of the family. The subsequent journey to Miami and the reunion of her family there gives Toussaint the strength she will need to apply to a difficult premedical college program. From then on her family remains a solid backbone of support throughout the rest of Toussaint's journey.
From her college years on Toussaint shares her struggles without apology; she tells of the disappointment she felt at not getting accepted to medical school and her frustration with the low level jobs she took as a result. Even her heartbreaking personal relationships with men are included in the story. When at last she is accepted into a medical school and starts to make sense of the schooling process, her relief is contagious. During medical school, Toussaint is faced with considerable amounts of prejudice both because she is a woman and because she is African American. As she proves herself to the older doctors and professors, she is also proving to herself that she can accomplish her goals.
Toussaint's story draws the reader into her mind as she progresses thorugh her journey to ultimately become a transplant surgeon. Her thoughts and reflections make up the bulk of the book and center around the challenges she faces everyday. The reader watches her make mistakes and learn from them. Her story is continuously growing and developing as she matures. it is a story meant to inspire people to achieve their dreams, no matter what boulders lie in the way. It is a story about not giving up hope and underneath it all it is also a story meant to incite change for the sake of the thousands of poor people in this country whose insurance companies will not pay the price to save their lives.
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