Elephant in a Girlie Skin: A Memoir About Waiting for My Second Heart Transplant - Paperback

by Tenley Summer (Editor), Emma Nilan (Author)

From her love of bad reality TV to fondness for living fast and being a sassy smartass, Emma Nilan is your average 20-something. Except for the fact that the heart she was born with, her first heart, was deemed defective. And replaced. And now, she finds herself once again waiting for another new heart. Confined to a tiny room in a bustling Boston hospital, she journals her ordeal in fascinating detail - riveting, gross, heartbreaking, and often humorous. Including what it's like to be tethered to a giant metal pole resembling a Christmas tree festooned with meds and a tube directly into her heart (gross). The glamour of life on a nationally-known list (not gross). A tasty recipe for "magic" Rice Krispy treats (definitely not gross). The fact that for her to receive a heart, someone else has to die (thought-provoking). Plus: what hamsters and doctors' daily rounds have in common (fun). With a deceptively breezy style and snarky sense of humor, she braves cancer scares, fevers, and other assorted health hazards that keep delisting her from the national heart-transplant list. All the while, her heart function continues to decline dangerously. Will she be able to stay alive long enough to make it to her second transplant?

Author Biography

Emma Nilan is native of Burlington, Vermont, Emma is a painter who was born with congenital emphysema, heart disease and had two heart transplants by the age of 30. You can keep up with her latest exploits at elephantinagirlieskin.com. Tenley Summer (editor) Tenley is an Oregon-based writer and author of several books. She loves offbeat travel, sporting purple hair, and helping to keep Portland weird.