Not Our Baby

Ellen Pilon is a library assistant in the Patrick Power Library at Saint
Mary’s University in Halifax.

Jeffery Clark, not yet two years old, died of a brain tumor. This is the heartbreaking story of his life and illness, told by his mother. The nightmare is recounted in painstaking detail, ending with Jeffery’s death. Every tiny detail is included: the times things happened, the great number of medical tests, all the doctors and their opinions, experiences in the hospital, who visited when, etc. Either Mrs. Clark kept a diary at the time or she has remarkable recall.

Mrs. Clark says she tried to be objective, although many of her observations “were made through the eyes of an anxious mother”; it is incredible that, only four years after Jeffery’s death, she could have been objective at all and could have completed such a long, detailed account of the experience. The book is dedicated to Jeffery, but it is his mother’s story — her emotions and her experiences with him at the hospital through the nine months of his illness. (She was also pregnant during those nine months, giving birth to a daughter two weeks after Jeffery died.)

In her Preface, Mrs. Clark explains that she wrote the book to sort out what happened and why. “Then, over the long, painful period of writing and editing, it became somewhat therapeutic.” She adds that her story may help other parents of children with cancer. Mrs. Clark herself found the tragedy of her situation lightened a little when she heard the stories of other parents of children with cancer. As such, the book would be very useful; it is readable and well organized and would indeed show other parents in a similar situation that they are not alone.