If I Get to Five: What Children Can Teach Us about Courage and Chara Book

A world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon shares the lessons of courage, compassion, and resilience that he's learned from his patients

If I Get to Five is a one-of-a-kind book by a one-of-a-kind human being. The medical world knows him as Fred Epstein, M.D., the neurosurgeon who pioneered life-saving procedures for previously inoperable brain and spinal tumors in children. His patients and their families know him simply as Dr. Fred, the "miracle man" who has extended them both a healing hand and an open heart.

"I simply can't accept the idea of kids dying," is how Fred Epstein explains his commitment to saving his young patients. As the world's leading pediatric neurosurgeon, he did whatever it took to rescue children that other doctors had given up on. Along the way, he literally redefined what was curable and what was hopeless.

Dr. Epstein credits his young patients as his most important teachers throughout his career. If I Get to Five relates the unforgettable conversations, letters, and experiences he's shared with children—lessons in "uncommon courage" and "love without boundaries" that we can draw on to overcome adversity at any stage of life.

No one who reads this remarkable book will ever look at children—or adversity—the same way.