THE TALE OF A TRANSPLANTED HEART By
Will the transplanted heart from an angry donor turn a dedicated scientist into a bioterrorist? Wherein Lies the Human Soul?
Decades ago, author/physician Beverly Hurwitz witnessed stunning changes in a patient whose life had been saved by a liver transplant. Transplant patients’ experiences of alien emotions have mostly been attributed to the side effects of the medications that help ward off rejection of the donor organ. But as transplant medicine has grown, increasing numbers of organ recipients are reporting the development of feelings, preferences, and sometimes memories that are not their own. Is the brain the only seat of consciousness? Could it be that our souls reside in the DNA of all of our cells?
The Tale of a Transplanted Heart pulls the curtain back on a research laboratory where scientists seek ways to protect humanity from deadly diseases by manipulating the DNA of dangerous germs. The story follows the life of an internationally acclaimed researcher who studies the advanced immunologic defenses of bats, but who becomes a threat to his own lab after receiving a donor heart. This story also exposes the darker side of such research: cutthroat competition for funding, unenforced lab regulations, lab accidents, and the potential creation of biologic weaponry.
Will we ever really know if the germ that caused the COVID pandemic emerged spontaneously in nature, or was it created in a lab? And if COVID was a designer virus, was its escape accidental? This novel might leave you wondering if there could actually be a dangerous lab in your neighborhood, as was the case in 2023, when numerous sick animals and lethal germs were discovered in an illegal lab that was concealed in a warehouse in Reedley, California.
This story also opens a window into the world of transplant medicine, where “only twenty percent of potential donor hearts actually get to a recipient on time, and only about ten percent of patients waiting for a new heart are lucky enough to get one in time.”
While following the impact of the surprising changes in the heart recipient in this story, the reader will be provoked to contemplate what makes each of us unique as individuals. Additionally, this novel offers insight into the long-lasting impact of infections, and the nature of the raging war between man and microbes. As a bonus, the reader might also come to appreciate and maybe even learn to love the most misunderstood of mammals, the lowly bat.
The Tale of a Transplanted Heart is available in paperback and kindle editions with reading samples at: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+tale+of+the+transplanted+heart+hurwitz This is Beverly Hurwitz’s fifth medical fiction novel published by Surrogate Press. Find all of her novels and hiking books at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=books+by+beverly+hurwitz
