Fazlur Rahman’s mother died tragically when he was only seven years old, but her words reverberated throughout his life: “Someday you will be a doctor, Fazlur, and save lives.” Eventually, he fled his war-torn homeland and, after years of training in New York and Houston, became a cancer doctor. He could never have imagined that his medical career would unfold in remote West Texas and that he would be a pioneer oncologist for a vast region.
Over a 35-year career, Rahman poured himself into not just taking care of his patients’ challenging medical needs but learning from them and getting to know their lives, their families, and the circumstances that made each patient unique.
He narrates the instructive stories of five cancer patients: surviving against all odds; walking a long path with cancer and negotiating the steps of every day; bearing the crushing burdens of the exorbitant costs of cancer drugs, sometimes dictating a decision either to save one’s own life or leaving enough for the family to live on; navigating the vagaries of old age and coping with malignancy; and patients’ desire for dignity, a self-respect that we all want, rich or poor.
These compassionate tales are a blend of storytelling, cancer science, and Rahman’s personal reflections and struggles in making medical decisions that treat a patient as a whole person, not just as a person with a disease.
A propos de l’auteur
Fazlur Rahman was born and brought up in what is now Bangladesh. After his medical education in Dhaka, New York, and Houston, he practiced cancer medicine for thirty-five years in San Angelo, Texas. He is an adjunct professor of biology (medical humanities and ethics) at Angelo State University, a senior trustee of Austin College in Sherman, Texas, and an advisory council member of the Charles E. Cheever Jr. Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. His writings on medical, ethical, social, and scientific issues have appeared in many national and international publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian Weekly, International Herald Tribune, Haaretz, Indian Express, Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, Harvard Review, Short Story International, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Oncologist, and Lancet. His cultural and medical memoir, The Temple Road: A Doctor’s Journey, published in India in 2016, tells about his upbringing and training years, his move to a new country, and his life and practice in West Texas. He and his wife, Jahanara (Ara), have lived there for most of their lives and have raised four children. They love walking in nature and going on wildflower adventures.
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