Speaking to a capacity crowd, widow of the #1 New York Times best-selling author Dr. Paul Kalanithi, Stanford internist Dr. Lucy Kalanithi discussed his book, “When Breath Becomes Air,” in the Bouras Auditorium of Overlook Medical Center on April 6.
Dr. Lucy Kalanithi chats with Margie and Sam Ticknor of the Glasser Foundation.
Dr. Paul Kalanithi was a successful neurosurgery resident at Stanford when he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. He died two years later at the age of 37, soon after his infant daughter was born. His critically acclaimed memoir has moved both the medical and literary worlds with its exploration of mortality and how coming face to face with your own death changes both nothing and everything.
Having penned the book’s stunning epilogue, Dr. Lucy Kalanithi spoke about the writing of “When Breath Becomes Air,” the power of literature to illuminate the human condition, and her husband’s compelling message about living a meaningful life. She also reflected on her own experience, standing beside her husband and shepherding his book to publication after his death.
This engagement was the seventh in a series of lectures on health and the public interest made possible by a generous gift from the Glasser Foundation and endowed through the Overlook Foundation.
