Remedies for Sorrow: An Extraordinary Child, a Secret Kept from Pregnant Women, and a Mother's Pursuit of the Truth

An inspiring memoir and work of fierce advocacy by a mother whose child is born deaf, leading her to investigate and expose a preventable virus that causes more childhood disabilities than any other--but is kept quiet by the medical community.


One virus causes more birth defects and disabilities in children than any other infectious disease, yet 91% of Americans don’t know it exists. In 2015, after an outwardly uneventful pregnancy, Megan Nix's second daughter, Anna, was born terribly small and failed her newborn hearing test. Megan and her husband learned that Anna is completely deaf and could have lifelong delays due to an infection in the womb with cytomegalovirus, or CMV, a disease Megan unknowingly contracted from her toddler during pregnancy.

While doctors warn pregnant women against the risks of saunas, sushi, and unpasteurized cheese, they don't mention that CMV is contagious in the saliva of one out of three toddlers, spread through a kiss, a shared cup, a bite of unfinished toast.  Anna’s diagnosis led Megan to years of in-depth research, uncovering a shocking fact: obstetricians in the United States are advised not to mention CMV to women during their pregnancies.

Unfolding across the dramatic landscape of Sitka, Alaska, where Megan's husband makes his living as a salmon fisherman, Remedies for Sorrow is lyrically written and a searing critique of the paternalistic practice of "benevolent deception" in medicine. 
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