Summer`s Complaint: My Family`s Courageous, Century-Long Struggle with a Rare Genetic Cancer Syndrome, Kieger Laura

This is the dark shadow that has lingered over one family since at least 1911, when a matriarch was first seen at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for symptoms that would become commonplace in her descendants. Three of her five children died in their thirties with what theyd come to call summers complaint. Her granddaughter, genetically programmed by a defect on her 5th chromosome also developed cancer, which would ultimately take her life.

This is that familys sometimes tragic story. As told by a daughter, aunt, and sister who has been surrounded by its relentless destruction her entire life, Summers Complaint is at once a testament to the courage of those one family has lost and a journey toward understanding hereditary predispositions to disease and how best to combat them.

This book is a wonderful blend of reflections and medicine. Well-written and deeply informed, Lauras story will especially be of interest to curious readers in the healthcare space. -Maren R

Amazingly well-written and very interesting read Bravo -Katie H