Mending Children's Broken Hearts is a collection of the thoughts and experiences of Grace S. Wolff, a respected innovative pediatric cardiologist. The subject matter is daunting--Grace devoted her career to the care of severely ill children. Yet Grace's stories are shot through with an almost miraculous compassion. She trusted, and she teaches the reader to trust, that there is a thread of hope and wonder even in the worst misfortune.
The book stands as a tribute to Grace, to preserve and share her conviction that patient care should be built from the recognition of each patient as an individual human being. It should be useful to patients, medical professionals, and caregivers, as a source of solace and wisdom.
About the Author
Armando I. Perez, Ph.D., husband of the late Grace S. Wolff, M.D., was born in Havana, Cuba. Soon after the Revolution, he immigrated with his family to Spain and from there to the United States. In his career he was an environmental engineer and urban planner, and served in numerous societies and committees--most notably as Chair of the Urban Planning and Development Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers, from which he received the Harland Bartholomew National Urban Planning Award. Before he retired, he was a vice president with the international consulting firm CDM Smith Inc.
Dr. Perez spends his retirement playing the alto saxophone, learning French and Italian, and participating in book clubs and church activities. He divides the year between his home in Coral Gables, Florida, and his vacation cabin in the Adirondacks of New York. Perhaps the greatest challenge of his life was to provide care for his beloved Grace when she contracted ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Grace fought the disease as forcefully as she had toiled on behalf of her patients, but she succumbed in July 2015. He wrote this book in her honor.
The author has arranged for his portion of the proceeds to be given to the Pediatric Cardiology Research Fund of the Medical College of Wisconsin, from which Grace graduated.
