Brain and Heart

The Triumphs and Struggles of a Pediatric Neurosurgeon

David I. Sandberg

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN:
  9781639368945
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Medicine Biographies

A brilliant and warm memoir that captures the intense emotional and medical world of pediatric neurosurgery.

In this moving, unflinching, and inspiring book, Dr. David Sandberg, an internationally reknown pediatric neurosurgeon, brilliantly combines his deep scientific and medical knowledge with raw emotion and unforgettably powerful stories of courage and love. The brain is the most complicated and perplexing of our organs, and it is also the one that makes us human. When it comes to a child's brain, the hearts of those who love them become inextricably linked to that story.

In Brain and Heart, Dr. Sandberg describes the joy, heartbreak, uncertainty, and physical and emotional challenges that come with performing brain surgery on children. What makes this book different from previously published medical memoirs is Dr. Sandberg’s unique honesty about what goes through his mind when he makes the most complex choices with life-changing consequences. While most medical memoirs focus largely on the patient perspective, Dr. Sandberg allows readers access to his private thoughts when making agonizing decisions—from giving the worst news imaginable to facing very scary surgical complications.

A father himself, Dr. Sandberg understands deeply how every one of his patients is an entire world, and his devotion to his patients and his work shines through on every page. We follow him as he finds his way to neurosurgery as a young doctor through to his most heartbreaking cases and greatest triumphs. We also travel with him to underserved countries, where lifesaving surgeries that are common here are almost nonexistent, and Dr. Sandberg shares the stories of the dedicated doctors and surgeons trying to enact change. Brain and Heart is an unforgettable book that will strenghten our sense of compassion and hope.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Foreword by Arianna Huffington
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: When the Brain Humbles You: Facing Unpredictable Outcomes
• Chapter 2: A Tough Road: The Making of a Pediatric Neurosurgeon
• Chapter 3: Hearing the Unthinkable: Helping Families Process a Fatal Diagnosis
• Chapter 4: The Greatest Reward: Saving the Life of a Child
• Chapter 5: Coping with Complications: When the Patient Is Worse after Surgery
• Chapter 6: Pulled in Many Directions: A Day in the Life of a Pediatric Neurosurgeon
• Chapter 7: Bicycles, Bullets, and Beaten Babies: Keeping Our Children Safe
• Chapter 8: One Last Hope: Research Triumphs and Failures
• Chapter 9: Exhilaration and Despair: Pediatric Neurosurgery in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Notes
• Copyright