Sam: The Boy Behind the Mask [Hardcover]

Tom Hallman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2002

Sam: The Boy Behind the Mask tells the true, heart-wrenching story of Sam Lightner. Born with a rare disfiguring growth that covers and distorts the left side of his face, skull, and neck-Sam is determined to live a normal life. For fourteen years, doctors refuse to operate on Sam, until an elite team of surgeons at Boston Children's Hospital undertake a risky thirteen-hour operation to remove the malformation. Sam nearly dies on the operating table, but survives, and returns home to begin his freshman year of high school. However, when doctors discover excess fluid around his brain, Sam slips into a coma, and is not expected to live. As the family and doctors begin to give up, one doctor-pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby-keeps believing, even as all hope seems lost. The only female in the boy's club of neurosurgery, Dr. Wehby is scorned for refusing to accept facts and for allowing her emotions-as a woman-to cloud her medical judgment. But she perseveres, staying by Sam's side, until he moves first a finger, then a foot, and finally, begins to interact with those around him.

Tom Hallman's Pulitzer prize-winning series on Sam Lightner in The Oregonian touched the city of Portland so profoundly that it generated more than ten thousand letters from readers. Now Tom Hallman takes us far deeper into the world Sam inhabits, encompassing startling and inspirational events up to the present day. A human story of hope in the face of tragedy, and the compassion to attempt the impossible, Sam: The Boy Behind the Mask shows how one boy-wanting nothing more than to be part of the regular world-is helped along his journey by medical miracles, and by the generosity of the human heart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran journalist Hallman expands his Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Sam Lightner, a boy born with a rare, disfiguring growth on his face, into a heart-breaking saga of the emotional, physical and psychological battles Sam and his family have fought since his birth in 1985. The growth, a "tangle of lymphatic capillary cells" beneath the skin of Sam's face, necessitates two surgeries before Sam is even a week old; when the boy nearly dies after a 1989 operation, his parents decide that surgery to remove the mass is out of the question until Sam himself demands it. Hallman, a reporter at the Portland Oregonian who first met Sam in 1999, tenderly chronicles Sam's childhood and early adolescence: his difficulties fitting in at school, his inability to participate in activities with other children, his yearning to lead a more normal life. In 2000, Sam undergoes surgery in Boston. Initially it seems successful, but back in Portland, Sam slips into a coma. His pediatric neurosurgeon and his parents are the only ones who believe he will live; eventually Sam proves them right. Hallman's writing is crisp and affecting, though also sometimes overly dramatic and simplistic. He portrays Sam's doctors, for example, as wholly altruistic beings (a portrayal not entirely unjustified) and glosses over some of the more personal, and painful, emotions his parents must have felt watching their child suffer. Still, this is a deeply moving story, an against-all-odds tale of bravery and faith. 8 pages b&w photos
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

From a Pulitzer Prize-winning series by Oregonian journalist Hallman: the story of a teenaged boy who survives a 13-hour operation for a facial deformity, then pulls through a subsequent coma with the help of an against-all-the-odds woman doctor.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (October 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399149333
• ISBN-13: 978-0399149337
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,668,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story about an amazing kid., October 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sam: The Boy Behind the Mask (Hardcover)

I read the original newspaper series about Sam, and when I heard there was a book being published, I couldn't wait to read it. I was not disappointed. This more in depth and up-to-date look at Sam's life, his struggles, and his strength is an awsome testimony to the strength of the human spirit and of the importance of a close and supportive family.

The things Sam has faced in his short life make any difficulties you and I face seem very trivial. He is a true life hero, as are the amazing doctors who have helped him alaong the way. If this story does not touch you in a deep and meaningful way, I don't know what will.

Tom Hallman has done an excellent job of putting the reader in Sam's life where we can experience a little of what he faces every day. Yet, he keeps the book moving so we don't get too bogged down in the details. This is positively a book you will want to, and can, read cover to cover in a short period of time.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Look on the inside please!, April 16, 2004

By 

world class wreckin cru "dallasite" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sam: The Boy Behind The Mask (Paperback)

Sam Lightner was born with a horribly deforming vascular tumor on the left side of his face that was so disfiguring and otherworldly that an adult at a Halloween party complimented for his marvelous costume. This is the kind of situation that Sam has lived with since he was an infant - the stares, the laughter, the shock, the misunderstandings. If any story teaches the lesson of appreciating a person's heart rather than his appearance, it is this one.

Sam was born with a large vascular tumor on the left side of his place that progressively compromised not only his appearance but also his basic vital functions including breathing and eating. It took a few courageous physicians to treat his condition. Drs. Marler and Mulleken at Boston Children's and Dr. Wehby in Portland are a few of the doctors that enabled Sam to have a fighting chance. What makes this book such a compelling read is not only the heroics of Sam's physicians but the courage of Sam and his family. Hallman delivers Sam's struggle to fit in with such an emotional impact that I had to quit reading the book in parts to take a breather. Sam's family is portrayed as truly remarkable, and their handling of Sam's problems is a lesson to be learned by all.

Unfortunately, the book leaves us hanging (not the author's fault) because Sam's story is not finished. He most likely will undergo further plastic surgery to shape his face, and he may undergo additional operations if his tumor returns.

Hopefully, this book can teach us a little about how to give respect to those like Sam who need support rather than the stares we often give them.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT read for anyone, especially teens., February 28, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Sam: The Boy Behind the Mask (Hardcover)

This story will touch your heart in an incredibe way! The author reaches inside you and grabs your heart, in order to take you from the day of his birth, when Sam's problems started, though his recovery process, after his surgery. The book is so well written and it invites you to view Sam's experiences in an up-close and personal way. If you want to learn about what life really means, or if you have a teenager that feels self-conscious, read this. This book makes you realize that inspiration can come from anywhere and that you should count your blessings and be happy for what God has given you. Learn from Sam and live.