About the Book
Not Just Another Transplant Book
For readers who have survived something life-changing — and are still figuring out what comes next.
Category: Medical Memoir, Biography, Survival Biography
For twenty years, Laura Baker lived with the knowledge that her heart might fail her at any time. Diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at twenty years old, she learned to navigate life between uncertainty and determination—becoming a nurse, a nurse practitioner, a wife, and a mother of three while carrying the constant awareness that her future was never guaranteed.
But the greatest threats she faced were not always the disease itself. They were the moments when she knew something was wrong and was not believed. A defective device that nearly took her life. A medical system that sometimes saw her as a diagnosis rather than a person. The trauma of losing control over her own body and her own care.
Life After Survival: A Story from Both Sides of the Bed is a deeply personal memoir of illness, resilience, and the complicated relationship between patients and the people entrusted to heal them. Written from the unique perspective of someone who has lived as both a critically ill patient and a healthcare provider, it explores a truth few people talk about: survival is not the end of the story—it is only the beginning.
Because after the surgeries are over, the monitors are silent, and the crisis has passed, there is still a life left to build. This is the story of what comes after: how trauma lingers, how trust is rebuilt, and how a person learns not just to stay alive, but to truly live.