During our lives we are privileged to occasionally come across a real, genuine hero. Not a celebrity with a big entourage or a sports star with an even bigger ego – we’re talking about real life heroes who have a profound inflence on other people’s lives, even to the point of saving that life.
A real life hero
Renowned New Zealand neonatal paediatrician Dr Simon Rowley may very well be one of those heroes. Over a professional lifetime of working with our most vulnerable, Dr Rowley and his brilliant team of expert clinicians have saved thousands of precious little lives.
Dr Rowley’s new memoir, Mind that Child (ghost-written by journalist Adam Dudding) gives us a very special glimpse into what it means to be entrusted with the most precious of responsibilities – a young human life.
Hear from his patients
It says a lot about the man that, even though this is his story, he dedicates the book to his patients:
“The babies and children who are such great teachers, and their parents, who have demonstrated true selfless devotion to their children. Their resilience and strength never fail to amaze me.” Dr Simon Rowley
And it certainly seems that Dr Rowley’s patients and colleagues think highly of the man, in return.
Prepare for a moving read
Creating a recollection of real life stories in the medical profession, especially one that involves such young, tender lives, is destined to result in a very moving tribute, not only to the amazing work done by Dr Rowley, but to the bravery of his patients and their families.
Charting his decades of medical experience, Rowley gives us a very powerful and real understanding of the life of a doctor: what they must do and decide, from the high-stakes management of tiny pre-term babies to the serious impacts of drugs, alcohol and technology on developing minds; and the depressing corrolation between poverty and a baby’s health not just during pregancy; but throughout their young life.
What’s revealed is a tender and profound portrait of a medical professional at the very centre of what matters – a doctor who always adopts a humane, holistic view and who writes openly about the personal impact of a career in the high-pressure medical world. Whilst he places his patients at the very centre of his work, there is also a good dose of dry humour throughout the book – something which is no doubt required to cope in such a position.
Mind That Child is available now, RRP $38.00. Learn more at Penguin.co.nz.
‘Simon Rowley is GOD. He saved our son. I more than encountered him, I cried on his shoulder and he hugged me with each down and we shared laughter and joy and a coffee in a plastic cup with each step up. Both Warwick and I cannot speak highly enough of him. If he asked us to jump, we would only ask how high? He’s amazing.’
Read the first chapter of Mind That Child below …
[pdf-embedder url=”https://kidspot.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Mind-That-Child-by-Simon-Rowley-First-Chapter.pdf” title=”Mind That Child by Simon Rowley First Chapter”]
sounds like this would be a really interesting book. There is so much compassion and detail in the first page and he seems to really know his patients well.
That first taste of the book is pretty engaging! I imagine I wouldn’t have a dry eye once I got further into it. Definitely a true hero, working with kids through illness!
Wow, I must read this book – I will totally be a blubbering mess but it will be worth it! He sounds awesome and is definitely in the right job 🙂
I love real life stories so this sounds like a great read and being about what related to him as a paediatrician I’m going to have to buy this book and read about it it will be upsetting I’d imagine at times
Wow what an awesome idea for a book! I would love to read this, although I can just imagine getting all teary especially with the happy endings 🙂
Wowee this sounds like a great read. He truly sounds like a very amazing heroic man. I am doing my preparation course for nursing this year so I found the first chapter very interesting as I want to be a nurse and be able to be a blessing in the industry just like this man is. I might have to buy the book as it’s very intreging.