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"I never expected life to be so messy," says Nancy Snyderman, medical news correspondent for
Good Morning America,
20/20, and
ABC News, in the opening to
Necessary Journeys. Here she tells her own story--not a glittery story of a woman's achievements (though she could have written that story instead), but a raw one of "those parts of our lives that have influenced and shaped us without enriching our spirits." We read about Snyderman's rape as a college sophomore by a man wielding a knife at her throat, and how she didn't tell anyone for two years. We read about her depression, weight gain, and fear following that incident. She was also later diagnosed with "a rare form of lymph node cancer, which very few people survive." After 72 hours of tests and expert consultations, she learned that what she actually had was not cancer but a tick-borne virus. Snyderman learned firsthand the panic and isolation of a cancer diagnosis--"the stripping away of self ... the desperate dependence on the intelligence and training of strangers"--and she also experienced a speedy reprieve. The combination of the two made her a better and more compassionate doctor. We also share her experience of marrying a man who spent all her money, led a double life, and put her into devastating debt.
We also hear the happy stories--people who inspired her, her beginnings in television, adopting a baby--but what grip us are the shadow sides of her life. "By telling this story, I make sense of the senseless," writes Snyderman. By juxtaposing her stories with her current understanding, Snyderman passes along worthy advice for others facing similarly overwhelming situations. --Joan Price
From Publishers Weekly
Although this popular medical correspondent on Good Morning America and 20/20 has a full life as a practicing surgeon, mother and wife, she recounts some painful moments and admittedly poor choices on her journey to midlife satisfaction. In a narrative that is positioned as self-help but is actually more of a memoir framed with references to Scott Peck, Parker Palmer, Carol Gilligan and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Snyderman tells of a seemingly idyllic Midwestern family life in Fort Wayne, Ind., where her physician father was a role model for her professional aspirations. She reveals that she was raped in college and believes that the silence and shame attached to the experience lingered with her for years in the form of depression, low self-esteem, social withdrawal and weight issues, until she finally sought help after her first marriage failed. Along the way, however, Snyderman's problems didn't prevent her from attending medical school, getting married and taking a residency in Pittsburgh, where, by accident, she got her start on TV. Later, she established a practice in Little Rock, Ark., socialized with the Clintons, married a man who, she says, ultimately was unfaithful and took her money. Her story harbors many emotional touchstones and triumphs: a cancer scare, a happy romance and successful third marriage in San Francisco, a magical bonding with an adopted daughter, her newborn son's breathing problem and consequent hospitalization. Yet many readers, especially Snyderman's TV audience, may be curious about some issues that are only partly revealed, such as her parents' response to her rape and her relationship to the father of her second child. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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