1. Book Review:
Getting Better: My Journey through Transverse Myelitis and Lessons for
Health Care Professionals, Patients and Families
By: Keith J. Launchbury and Claire V. Bloom
Paperback: 222 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace, Lexington, KY. (December 2010)
ISBN-10: 145632991X
ISBN-13: 978-1456329914
One of the most effective writing techniques used to help make complex matters
more understandable and memorable is through the art of storytelling. What we
have in Keith Launchbury and Claire Bloom’s book, “Getting Better: My
Journey through Transverse Myelitis and Lessons for Health Care
Professionals, Patients and Families,” is a riveting first-person story written by
two dear friends and colleagues and it reads as a day-by-day collection of
personal journal entries, as gripping as any spy thriller. It tells of Keith
Launchbury’s encounter and on-going recovery from transverse myelitis - an
autoimmune disorder that causes the body’s natural immune system to attack the
spinal cord.
Keith and Claire are husband and wife, and they found themselves in San
Francisco last summer to conduct an on-site education program for a client.
While Keith and Claire were deplaning at San Francisco International Airport,
Keith was stricken with what was ultimately diagnosed as TM (Transverse
Myelitis) – and I might add, they were also some 2800 miles from their home in
New Hampshire. This was only the beginning of their sudden, unplanned full-
face encounter with the US health care system, with all of its excellence,
contradictions, frustrations, idiocies, and anomalies. The pace of the book’s
events does not relent until we find Keith back home in New Hampshire, weeks
later, well on the road to recovery.
It’s worth mentioning that this is as much Claire’s story as it is Keith’s. Her role as
wife, coach, supporter, problem-solver, bureaucracy-buster, luggage handler and
soul mate extraordinaire is in itself inspiring. [It does help to have prior
experience as a US Naval Officer and as a former Executive Officer of the U.S.S.
Constitution.]
There are many ways to parse a recommended readership -- Reading “Getting
Better..” is its own reward. That said, it should be required reading:
For every US Member of the House of Representatives and Senate: If it were
possible to recast the time and place of history – this powerful little book should
have been made mandatory reading for all members of the 111th Congress
during the 2010 debate and adoption of the Affordable Health Choices Act

2. (aka. The Health Care Reform Act). One can only imagine a better outcome if
members of both parties in Congress had embedded in their minds “The Voice of
the Customer (Patient),” as presented by Keith and Claire. It’s still not too late.
While we’re at it,
For the President of the United States, his Staff and the Cabinet: having
“Getting Better..” on the President’s night stand could do nothing but help the
articulation of his solutions to the many problems of the current complex health
care system gain even better traction with the public.
For Physicians, Nurses, Pharmacists, and All Other Health Care
Professionals: It may sound strange, but I myself have encountered many in the
US health care professions who do not view the Patient as the primary focus of
their duties, much less a customer. In the minds of some, the customer may be
the insurance provider. Others view the customer as the physician. If that
thinking is to ever change – the simple but graphic story as told by Keith and
Claire is a perfect prescription.
For the Rest of Us: This book should be required reading for us all. Sooner or
later each of us will come in contact with the US health care system: as a patient,
a caregiver, a healer. “Getting Better,” should serve as a primer (warning) on not
only what to expect of our existing health care system, but how to navigate its
labyrinthine twists and turns, and come out of the experience as a satisfied,
healthy whole human being. In addition to a primer for the patient, it makes
sense to also view this book as advice and support for caregivers of all stripes. A
clear message for all: To have patient treatment and recovery become truly
effective requires a strong support system.
As compelling as this narrative is, Keith and Claire also provide us with a set of
spot-on recommendations for helping reform our broken US health care system. I
will not recount them here – It is better left for each reader to reflect upon these
on their own. They can then decide how they can best help implement the
solutions to our health care problems recommended by Keith and Claire.
Everything that Keith and Claire write of resonates with a singular theme: To
ensure that the Patient is seen as the ultimate customer in the US health care
system, and that patients deserve the very best of quality care and life-long
health education.
Please -- buy this book. Read it. Act upon it.
James D. Reeds
CEO and Alliance Architect
The Rural Telemedicine Foundation, Inc.