Description
"In her compulsively readable memoir, Megan Nix brings to light an issue that has been too long ignored. Remedies for Sorrow is an immensely important book."--Emily Oster, New York Times bestselling author of Cribsheet
An inspiring memoir and work of fierce advocacy by a mother whose child is born deaf, leading her to investigate and expose a preventable virus that causes more childhood disabilities than any other--but is kept quiet by the medical community. One virus causes more birth defects and disabilities in children than any other infectious disease, yet 91 percent of Americans don't know it exists. In 2015, Megan Nix's second daughter, Anna, was born remarkably small and failed her newborn hearing tests. Megan and her husband learned that Anna could be deaf and have lifelong delays due to an infection in the womb with cytomegalovirus, or CMV, a disease Megan unknowingly contracted from her toddler during pregnancy. While doctors warn pregnant women against the risks of lunch meats, sushi, and unpasteurized cheese, they don't mention that CMV is contagious in the saliva of one out of three toddlers, spread through a kiss, a cup, a bite of toast. Anna's diagnosis leads Megan to years of in-depth research, uncovering a shocking fact: obstetricians in the United States are advised not to mention CMV to women during their pregnancies. Lyrically written, Remedies for Sorrow unfolds across the dramatic landscape of Sitka, Alaska, as Megan sets out to empower pregnant women the way she was not. Her groundbreaking book will start a national conversation and will help women understand that avoiding CMV during pregnancy can be as second nature as abstaining from alcohol and caffeine.
An inspiring memoir and work of fierce advocacy by a mother whose child is born deaf, leading her to investigate and expose a preventable virus that causes more childhood disabilities than any other--but is kept quiet by the medical community. One virus causes more birth defects and disabilities in children than any other infectious disease, yet 91 percent of Americans don't know it exists. In 2015, Megan Nix's second daughter, Anna, was born remarkably small and failed her newborn hearing tests. Megan and her husband learned that Anna could be deaf and have lifelong delays due to an infection in the womb with cytomegalovirus, or CMV, a disease Megan unknowingly contracted from her toddler during pregnancy. While doctors warn pregnant women against the risks of lunch meats, sushi, and unpasteurized cheese, they don't mention that CMV is contagious in the saliva of one out of three toddlers, spread through a kiss, a cup, a bite of toast. Anna's diagnosis leads Megan to years of in-depth research, uncovering a shocking fact: obstetricians in the United States are advised not to mention CMV to women during their pregnancies. Lyrically written, Remedies for Sorrow unfolds across the dramatic landscape of Sitka, Alaska, as Megan sets out to empower pregnant women the way she was not. Her groundbreaking book will start a national conversation and will help women understand that avoiding CMV during pregnancy can be as second nature as abstaining from alcohol and caffeine.