Rescuing Jeffrey
Rescuing Jeffrey: A True Story Richard Galli,
Publisher: Algonquin Books
ISBN: 1565122704
Edition: Hardcover; 2000-03-31
Summary:
On a perfect sunny July 4th afternoon, Richard Galli and his family
were celebrating the holiday at the home of some friends. The kids
were playing in the pool, and the grown-ups were relaxing. Then the
unthinkable happened. Galli's seventeen-year-old son, Jeffrey, dove
into the pool, struck his head, and nearly drowned. Although Galli
saved his son's life, Jeffrey was paralyzed with a devastating spinal
cord injury. Rescuing Jeffrey is a compelling look at the next ten
days. In this disarmingly honest account, Galli wrestles with a
horrible predicament: Should he let his son live as a quadriplegic,
unable to move or breathe on his own? Or should Galli "rescue" his
son again-this time by removing Jeffrey's life support? Galli weighs
this question with intelligence and stark emotional intensity. For
ten days he struggles to comprehend a future he never imagined for
his son. During those ten days two parents are forced to make the
most difficult decision of their lives. "I had brought my son back to
life," Galli writes, "and then I had to find a way to kill him."
Although Galli assumes the burden of choosing death for his minor
son, convincing others that the decision is correct, in the end that
decision is taken away. Battered by bad luck, shock, and medication,
unable even to lift a finger, Jeffrey finds the power to make the
decision himself. Rescuing Jeffrey is a bluntly eloquent story about
tragedy and love and the choices we make at the brink of survival. It
is a story that asks what, after all, is a life worth living?
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