Anna

About the Book

It is 1973, and Willie Mays “Bernie” Bernstein is a disillusioned doctor. As the Vietnam War rages thousands of miles away, Bernstein fights a battle inside his own mind. Despite Nixon’s announcement that there will be a cure for cancer in the next decade, Bernstein feels powerless against the horrific disease and its effects. Worse yet, he lost his ability to be compassionate toward his patients. When he receives a desperate call from the one nurse who has acted as his guardian angel to care for her eleven-year-old granddaughter as his next cancer patient, Bernstein reluctantly agrees to break his “no children” policy and see her. Little does he know that Anna Bing is about to take hold of his heart and not let go.

After Bernstein diagnoses Anna with Hodgkin’s disease and lines up a course of treatments at a major medical center, he soon realizes that he feels an unexplainable bond with the girl. Despite her initially good prognosis, however, Anna’s treatments fail; she is eventually sent back to Bernstein’s hospital for terminal care. Along with her mother and grandmother, Bernstein continues a valiant fight for her life that tests him not only as a doctor, but also as a man.

Anna is the poignant tale of a doctor and his struggle to regain his humanity as he attempts to save a girl from the ravages of cancer.

About the Author

Michael Derechin is a retired physician who specialized in hematology and oncology in New England. Following his medical career, he further developed his passion for storytelling, leading him to publish columns and present short stories locally. Derechin lives with his wife on a barrier island in Florida, where he is writing the next book in his planned series about Willie Mays “Bernie” Bernstein.