chez_jae

Just finished reading Love, Greg & Lauren, by Greg Manning. It's the gut-wrenching account, told via emails to family and friends, of Lauren Manning's fight to survive the injuries she sustained at the World Trade Center on September 11.

Lauren worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. As many of you may recall, the first plane hit directly where Cantor Fitzgerald's offices were located, and nearly 700 of their employees were lost that day. Lauren was running late and had just entered the lobby of the WTC when a fireball exploded from the elevator shaft. She managed to run from the building, where a passerby helped put out the flames and got her loaded in an ambulance. Lauren was the first person to be evacuated.

When her husband, Greg, finally found her at St Vincent's hospital, Lauren was still alert enough to insist that he get her to a burn center immediately. She also told him she had, at first, prayed to die, but then decided to live for him and for their 10 month-old son Tyler. By 5:00 that evening, Lauren arrived at the Burn Center at NY-Presbyterian.

Greg began updating friends and family of her condition, in a series of emails that he closed with "Love, Greg & Lauren". The book was comprised of these daily messages, which included the extent of Lauren's injuries, the surgeries she endured, the drug-induced coma she spent several weeks in, the infections she battled, and the unrelenting devotion of the team of dedicated doctors, nurses, and therapists who fought to keep Lauren alive. Greg also included his own thoughts and feelings regarding the events of September 11, along with accounts of the many memorial services he attended. He wrote eloquently of the bonds forged with the families of the other burn victims from the WTC, as they sat and kept vigil in the waiting room.

Interspersed were stories of their son Tyler's first steps and his first birthday party, all of which Lauren missed while she was fighting for her life in the Burn Center's ICU. The story was gripping, but there were times I'd have to set the book aside and do something else, simply because it was such an emotional read. I learned things about burn care that I found interesting. A burn patient's chances of survival are in direct proportion to the extent of the burn. For example, someone who is burned over 60% of their body has a 40% chance to survive. Lauren was burned over 82.5% of her body, meaning she had a less than 20% chance of survival. Too, the number of days a patient is expected to remain in the Burn Center's ICU is also based on the percentage of their burn. In fact, the number of days tends to equal the percentage of the burn. Thus, someone burned over 30% of their body could expect to spend 30 days in the ICU.

Favorite lines:
♦ We know the outcomes we want, but all we can do is watch, wait, and hope for the best.
♦ Her body is there, but not her voice. Her injuries sent her on a journey far away; we have been trying to get her back, and she has been struggling to come back, ever since. I am looking very much forward to her fond return.
♦ ...you can sometimes tell the truth of your own mood just by what you choose to notice.
♦ We can learn to tolerate anything if we can change it enough to make it survivable. And in the chinks of those changes, joy will seep through.
♦ I had no sooner despaired of assistance than a New York City bus was sent to pluck me from the night and get me to my destination (if not God in the details, then certainly a Harry Potter moment from Prisoner of Azkaban).

The story was inspiring, not just in Greg's devotion to his wife, but also in how hard she fought to live. It was not an easy book to read, but it was certainly thought-provoking and engaging. I highly recommend it.

Five stars:

*****