Review: Gifts of Time by Fred. J. Epstein M.D. and Elaine Fantle Shimberg

Title : Gifts of Time
Author : Fred. J. Epstein M.D. and Elaine Fantle Shimberg
Year : 1994
ISBN : 0-425-144303-8

Gifts of Time by Fred. J. Epstein M.D. and Elaine Fantle Shimberg is a true story about a paediatric neurosurgeon's lifelong mission to offer hope to children who suffer from serious and terminal neurological conditions where other paediatric neurosurgeons refuse to treat. The paediatric neurosurgeon is none other than one of the authors himself, Dr. Fred Epstein.

The late Dr. Epstein was the director of Paediatric Neurosurgery Division of New York University Medical Center and founding director of the Hymen-Newman Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, was also a pioneering surgeon where he had innovated surgical techniques to treat inoperable brain and spinal cord tumours in children in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His determined approach of never giving up hope on his very young patients saw him saving many lives where most other surgeons in the country had given up hope in treating children who were particularly terminally ill with brain and spinal cord tumours.

Dr. Eipstein's own life story was no less remarkable. He struggled with attention deficit disorder as a young boy where his learning ability was compromised. However, Dr. Eipstein never gave up hope in pursuing his ambition to be a doctor. His determination saw him overcoming his attention deficit disorder to enter New York Medical College as a medical student. Initially he thought he would become a psychiatrist like his father, however, his interest changed to neurosurgery during his tenure as medical student, where he found this particular medical field very interesting and challenging.

Gifts of Time was published with the aim to enlighten parents of children suffering from serious and terminal neurological conditions with the necessary information to seek for the appropriate medical treatment. It tells the vast experience of Dr. Eipstein in paediatric neurosurgery, especially in treating children with inoperable brain and spinal cord tumours. His humanistic philosophy in treating his very young patients endeared him to both his patients and their parents; to the extent they still kept in touch with him even when they no longer needed his service. He was a fine example of a medical specialist whose unfailing determination was the reason he became one of the top paediatric neurosurgeons in America.

Dr. Fred J. Eipstein died on 9 July 2006 from melanoma, according to his wife of 41 years, Kathy Eipstein. I first came to know of his story from a very old copy of Reader's Digest many years ago. An excerpt of this book was then published in the said magazine. Dr. Epstein's story has been and will always be an immense inspiration to me, and  I believe he had left behind a lasting legacy of knowledge and innovations for the other paediatric neurosurgeons in America, especially the ones Dr. Eipstein had taught and worked with in his lifetime.

This story was told in Dr. Eiptein's very own words, and I found it to be an extremely absorbing and a dramatic read. This is one of those rare books that will keep you glued to your chair until to the very end of it. It is also a story where you would want to read over and over again. The most important lesson to be learned from Dr. Eipstein's story would be when we thought that all hope was lost, however, there would always be a glimmer of hope to be found if we searched for it hard enough.