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Reviews from Patients, Caregivers and Advocates
 I
am a patient in need of a lifesaving liver transplant, and Dr. Darling's
incredible story of survival against all odds has enabled me to go forward
with hope. I have adopted his positive approach to life, and it has
enabled me to deal with my illness with dignity.
Bruce Bornstein, Patient, Liver Transplant Waiting List (Update:
transplanted)
Your
book is awesome and I am at the Epilogue and don't want to finish it!! I
have a million positives about the book running in my head and I will put
the thoughts together and let you get bombarded with extremely positive
reviews!
Hepatitis C advocate
Kate Genovese, author of Two Weeks Since my Last Confession;
Loving Joe Gallucci, Love and Life with Hepatitis C and Thirty
Years in September: A Nurse's Memoir (see this excellent
author's published books
here)
Coma Life
is a beautiful, inspiring book. I have been uplifted by it and grateful
for Dr. Darling's heartfelt appreciation for us caregivers (he calls us
their Angels) and our efforts to bring our loved ones to good health. I
keep it by my bed and read it when I need to be cheered up while waiting
for my loved one's liver transplant.
Shelly Bornstein, Caregiver
During
the long and arduous period before my transplant, Coma Life gave me and my
family the information and the insight into what we might expect during
that trying waiting period. It also gave us hope for a successful surgery.
We were all better able to deal with this difficult situation with our
positive attitudes which became critical to my survival and everyone's
concerns.
Tim Grangruth (Liver transplant recipient) & Family
Dear
Dr. Darling. I just want to add...another HUGE thank you for your
book Coma Life. I have to keep rereading as it is so full of wonderful
information and justifies that people in a coma can hear, etc., what
people are saying and doing. My family knows that if I go into a coma
from my liver disease to talk to me, play my music, read to me etc...
......and no bad things happen in there. You have truly inspired many by
writing of your experience.
Joanne Cathcart, liver transplant patient (update: transplanted)
Dr.
Darling, you are more than an inspiration, you are a living Angel sent
to us all. Your book could have not come in a better time. Recently I
have been down and needed a lift and your book is doing the trick. I
believe its just the MEDS or maybe liver disease, diabetics, or the
liver transplant. I will be OK in a couple of days, perhaps sooner by
the time I finish your book.
Debbie Vega, Founder, LOLA
The
Book Coma Life, became a kind of Bible for me. Having recently received a
Living Donor Transplant, I found myself avidly reading this book and
laughing and crying by turns. I found myself feeling, here is someone who
truly understands the emotional, physical and spiritual feelings I am
experiencing and that brought such hope and comfort to both me and my
husband . Thank you for your sharing via your book and we highly
recommend this book to any family who has someone undergoing this type of
surgery.
Nan Hartley, liver transplant patient (update: transplanted)
When
my mother was in the hospital in a coma life, if I had not read Dr.
Darling’s book, I would have been very disturbed. Instead, his story gave
me comfort that she was not in distress and it allowed me to go home with
a sense of peace and a sense of hope that everything would be OK. Things
looked grim for a long time and look where we are now—on the road to
recovery—who would think it? But without Dr. Darling’s help, I wouldn’t
have kept it together as I did. Thanks, it’s a must read for anyone in
this situation.
Dr. Kimberly Stacel, OD, New York (Update: Mom transplanted!)
Reviews from Amazon.com Readers
Coma Life, from Saratoga, CA United States
Dr. Darling has written a tome of rare insight, dignity, and
maturity interspersed with wry humor. He's been to the brink
against hepatitis C, liver cancer, diabetes, a heart attack, three
liver transplant operations, and more, and embraced his struggle
of survival with not just courage, but understanding. Dr. Darling
lets his reader experience the serene, surreal life "inside" his
coma and, if for no other reason, this very human insight makes
this book a literary must for all, and especially for patients who
need their spirits uplifted.
Coma's
Mysteries Unraveled, from a reader from Scottsdale, AZ USA
This is the story
of a thoughtful husband, a good patient, and a courageous man.
Anyone interested in things medical or who has an ill loved one
will enjoy this book. The author contracted Hepatitis C from a
tainted blood transfusion. This disease caused a sort of
domino-like effect causing among other things the need for (so
far) three liver transplants. While in a coma he was aware of his
surroundings to a point. This is a recounting of what he thought
was happening to and around him, and what was actually happening.
It is fascinating stuff. His compassion for families of other
patients is touching. And his ability to lift the shroud of
mystery that hides the state of COMA is uplifting. An idea as
monumental in life saving potential as either penicillin or the
Salk vaccine is PRESUMED CONSENT. The time is now, and hopefully
this idea will be implemented in the immediate future.
EXCELLENT!
True life
experience - a great help to families, from a reader in Boston, MA
This is a wonderful book, touching the heart and soul of the
reader written by a man who has endured so much and still has so
much humor and quick wit in telling his story. Great vision from
the patient, watching and feeling, but unable to do anything about
the situation at the time. This is extremely well written and a
tremendous asset to families that face similar instances with
their loved ones.
Harrowing journey
told with humor and pathos, from a reader in Albuquerque, NM
Richard Darling
allows us in on his "coma life" and invites us along on his
amazing journey through his life-threatening crisis. Richard is
one of millions of Americans who suffer from hep C and is one of
the few who has survived three liver transplants. His story is
life-affirming and humorous, despite the dire subject matter. This
book is for anyone who has faced a medical crisis but most
especially for anyone who has had a loved one face a serious
medical condition or crisis. Even more importantly, it is the
story of some dedicated and compassionate caregivers who have made
his journey possible.
You'll Love This
Book! from a reader in North Carolina USA
Once you begin
Coma Life, it is almost impossible to put it down. All sorts of
emotions are evoked: humor, sadness, and joy, which contribute to
an incredible book. In addition, Dr. Darling shows great
appreciation for caregivers (e.g., his wife, Kress) and how
important they are to the ill. A true gem of a book that is
uplifting for all and especially as a gift for the ill! A book
like no other!
Coma Life is Dr.
Darling's gripping autobiographical memoir of his surreal
life "inside" his coma, which included a tabby cat angel that
stayed by his bedside until he was out of danger and hilarious
adventures with Barbra Streisand, Kathy Lee Gifford, Dennis
Rodman, Bill Gates and Steve Wynn at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, and other loveable characters. At times while
in his coma, Dr. Darling could see and hear those around him, as
when his transplant coordinator took his hand and said to him,
“Dr. Darling, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand.” He could hear
and see her, but being in his coma, he couldn’t respond. Dr.
Darling assures relatives of those in a coma that when comatose,
there is no pain or distress, and he encourages physicians, nurses
and loved ones to communicate: “Please talk to us, explain things
to us and touch us.”
By Kristin Johnson,
a professional reviewer for the health industry and the author of
Butterfly Wings, A Love Story and co-author of Ordinary Miracles,
My Incredible Spiritual, Artistic and Scientific Journey; and
Christmas Cookies are for Giving
“Reality In Hiding.” For Americans, these three words describe the
bizarre healthcare system. Unlike “The Matrix,” there is no “red
pill” to take to dissolve the misconceptions and myths, although
there are plenty of other pills that lead to confusion as well as
to healing. In his medical autobiography Coma Life,
hepatitis-C, coma and three-time liver transplant survivor Dr.
Richard Darling, a former dentist, poses the question “What the
Hell Is Going On Here.”
In this honest memoir that reads like a story told by your best
friend in engaging prose (he describes his heart rate after
swimming: “What I heard can only be described as a schizophrenic
drummer set on double speed”), Dr. Darling tells how he contracted
Hepatitis C after a car accident sent him to the emergency room.
He mistakenly receives a transfusion of blood, tainted by the
Hepatitis C virus, which sends Dr. Darling on an odyssey that
takes him from a Matrix-like rich inner life while inside his coma
(at times he is aware of the nurses around him but is not able to
communicate or touch) to the frustrating process that all organ
donor recipients undergo while waiting to receive “The Gift of
Life.”
Armed with the expertise of the world-renowned Loma Linda
University Medical Center, a phantom tabby cat “guardian angel”
from the coma, and Kress, his devoted, ever-humorous wife of 21
years, as well as the fellow organ transplant recipients he meets
in the ICU, Dr. Darling takes on the daily travails of living with
Hepatitis C, experiences emotional encounters with the family of
organ donor Mark Antonowitsch (who, like Dr. Darling, had his life
transformed, in this case tragically ended, by a traffic accident
when a repeat drug abuser smashed into him), and takes on the
mighty NIH itself. He realizes that AIDS, purportedly the number
one killer, is 17th on the list of deadly diseases (18,017 AIDS
deaths in 2003 in the USA and only 201 in California in 2004 thru
2/28/05) and yet in 2005 is receiving $3,084 per patient in
research funding versus, for example, diabetes, which kills more
Americans than AIDS and breast cancer combined, yet only $80 is
spent on each diabetic. The number one killer in America, land of
fast-food lawsuits, super-size portions, increasing stress and
social isolation, is heart disease. Over 700,000 Americans die of
heart disease each year, and yet just one of those Americans
receives $40 in NIH funding. Truly, “What The Hell Is Going On
Here?”
Dr. Darling questions why more people in the media and in
Hollywood do not speak out in favor of heart disease, diabetes
(71,252 deaths in 2001), and Alzheimer’s, which kills three times
as many as AIDS. He points to political correctness and the
media’s obsession with AIDS. The broader explanation may be that
the media, politicians and American public do not want to face the
reality of aging or the lifestyle and environmental policy changes
needed to end diabetes, heart disease, lung cancer and other
illnesses. Likewise, organ donation seems to be a hush-hush topic.
Using the example of his “backup” (next in line for Dr. Darling’s
first liver should Dr. Darling have been too ill) Eduardo, who
died after waiting four years on the transplant list, Dr. Darling
questions why we as a culture have not embraced organ donation,
despite the timely efforts of U.S. Secretary of Health and Welfare
Tommy Thompson. Each year, approximately 88,000 people in the
United States wait for the "Gift of Life" and thousands will die
while waiting for an organ transplant (as opposed to Spain, which
has the highest donation rate in the world). Living liver donors,
for example, can give just part of their liver to a recipient, and
in six to twelve weeks, the sections in both donor and recipient
will grow into a whole liver, although donors have had
complications from the surgery, in some cases fatal complications.
Dr. Darling reassures readers that being an organ donor doesn’t
mean that doctors will automatically take your organs if your life
is in danger, or that your loved ones will get a whopping hospital
bill. All major religions support organ donation, which has Pope
John Paul II’s blessing.
Dr. Darling proposes that we adopt the “Presumed Consent” policy,
already law in many countries, which requires doctors to
automatically use organs from the deceased for transplant, unless
they opt out of the system...and all Americans will be asked and
given that choice. People can also carry a “NOT” or “No Organ
Transplant” card. While Dr. Darling’s proposal may cause
controversy among groups that don’t want the choice to donate
decided by law, the alternative of many thousands of deaths per
year is equally unacceptable, particularly when we meet, through
Dr. Darling, the organ recipients such as Tawfiek Loenandi, Freddy
Dorantes, and David Rosette, who, like Dr. Darling, spent time in
a coma. Dr. Darling’s assertion that people in a coma are still
alive and mentally alert, and should not be taken off life support
except in case of irreversible brain damage is bound to ignite the
“Right to Die” debate.
The book may seem to cover several disparate problems in health
care---organ donation, funding for research and treatment of
illness, and the “Right To Die” debate. However, these are the
difficulties that the critically ill and their families, the
doctors, and the policymakers face. The issues, which are
illustrated movingly and dynamically through Dr. Darling’s
storytelling, should provoke lasting debate. The “Matrix” of
modern health care is shown to be a compassionate but flawed
machine.
Coma Life is informative and an uplifting book for all. In
addition, it will provide much hope for the critically ill. Take
two red pills, read the book, and call me in the morning.
Purchase
Coma Life now by clicking the "Make a Donation" button
above!
Thank You!
Please contact your legislators in support of new organ-donor
policies
to solve the organ-donor crisis. Contact them easily and quickly
by clicking
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Syracuse University, the University of Denver, and the University of the Pacific
School of Dentistry, San Francisco. He
and his wife of
twenty-five years, Kress, reside in
Palm Desert, CA, with their cats Honey and Pepper.