This Is How I Save My Life by Amy B. Scher

A true story of embryonic stem cells, Indian adventures, and ultimate healing

Let me begin this review by saying, the only mention of anything lesbian in this book, is the author’s thanks to her “beautiful wife, Charlotte”.  I actually found out about the book through a Curve review.  Since I’m very interested in healing and all things spiritual, I wanted to find out how Amy B. Scher healed herself.

The book opens with Amy describing her body falling apart in July 2005.  She was in pain 24/7, her immune system was shot, and her body was being ravaged by a disease that no one could seem to diagnose.  And, she was only 25 years old.  It took a string of misdiagnosis and treatments that didn’t help for doctor’s to finally diagnose her illness in 2007—Lyme disease.  Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted from a tick bite that can cause serious health problems if left untreated.  Hers was left untreated for at least eight years, maybe longer.

After exhausting all of the treatments western medicine had to offer, Amy decided to travel to a tiny clinic in Dehli, India that had been documenting miraculous results for people with paralysis and other debilitating diseases using embryonic stem cells.  She would be their first Lyme patient. 

The book weaves back and forth between Amy’s treatment and her adventures in India.  Just getting from one hospital to the next for tests sounds like a harrowing endeavor!  Her richly woven pictures of India—the people, the compassion of her caregivers and other patients and the place itself—come together to help her fall in love with the country.  The stem cell injections are described in vivid detail and help to set Amy on a life changing course of treating herself once she returns to the U.S.  “This is How I Save My Life” is a fascinating read and gives great insight in to changes we all can make to take care of ourselves. 

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