{"product_id":"9781543678567","title":"Breath: A Lifetime in the Rhythm of an Iron Lung: A Memoir","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"I live with a stable of nightmares,\" Martha Mason writes, \"but hope keeps them in harness.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSome might wonder how Martha could have clung to hope at all. In 1948, on the day of the funeral of her adored older brother, Gaston, a quick victim of the great polio epidemic, Martha was struck with the same dreaded disease. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter a year in polio hospitals, she was sent back to her home in the village of Lattimore in the cotton-growing hills of western North Carolina. She was completely paralyzed, with only her head protruding from an 800-pound yellow metal cylinder that breathed for her. Doctors told her parents that she likely wouldn't live for more than a year. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut the doctors hadn't counted on Martha's will, or the hope that drives her still. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn avid reader, she dreamed of being a writer, and after finishing high school in her iron lung, she went on to nearby Gardner-Webb College, then to Wake Forest University, where she was graduated first in her class and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter college, Martha attempted to begin a career as a writer, dictating to her mother, who had devoted her own life to Martha's care. But her father suffered a massive heart attack, leaving him, too, an invalid. Her mother, caring for both, had little time for Martha's dictation. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTechnology revived Martha's dream. A voice-activated computer allowed her to write without assistance. She got it early in 1994 in a time of great despair. A devastating stroke had altered her mother's personality, causing her to turn on Martha, and eventually to revert to childhood. Martha had to become her mother's keeper, and to run a household from her iron lung. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo help her deal with the crisis, Martha began writing about her mother's selfless love. As she wrote, she found herself telling her own story, without self-pity or sentimentality, and with her usual courage, grace, and humor. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBreath\u003c\/i\u003e will make readers laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. It is a breathtaking memoir, a powerful testament to the human spirit, and it proves Martha Mason to be a writer whose voice is likely to be long remembered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brilliance Audio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47063390879984,"sku":"9781543678567","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781543678567_p0.jpg?v=1763751232","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781543678567","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}