736 entries.
Kim Burlingham, MD
from Winnsboro, Texas
Hello Dr. Sacks- After reading My Periodic Table in the NYT yesterday I have a renewed sense of urgency to not procrastinate and tell you that you are in my thoughts. I have felt connected with you for decades and it has been naughty of me to not thank you until now for your wonderful writings. During my pediatric residency at Morristown (part of Babies/Columbia) in the late '80s I started dating a general surgery resident. His father would clip articles of yours from the New Yorker and send them to me. Wanting to make a good impression on the family of the boy I fell in love with, I actually read them (one of the few non-textbook readings during those sleepless years!) My dad, who was a child psychiatrist, and my father-in-law bonded over your writings and that was delightful too!
Life went on and then I read your Oaxaca Journal and you made me smile again. My great grandfather Thomas H. Woolrich (also grandfather of the Columbia alum writer Cornell Woolrich) was a British shipping merchant who set up headquarters in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. It was there that my grandfather, a US diplomat, met and married my grandmother. I learned to walk and talk there amongst the trees, and plants and people who will always be part of me.
Lastly, you have given me a grand idea for my hard-to-buy-for husband's 60th birthday - the 60th element of the periodic table (thank goodness not a toxic element!) I will think of you whenever I see it on his writing desk.
Thanks for it all. You are living a good life. Rest well, Dr Sacks.
Kim Burlingham, MD FAAP
Robert Rothery
from San Diego, CA
Some years ago, my mother, who believed she might have Tourette's, wrote a letter to you. You replied, with a typewritten letter that she treasured. She considered the correspondence quite private, so I don't know exactly why she felt the need to reach out to you, nor what your words of reassurance were, but she found your insight deeply reassuring. You comforted her, a stranger, and for that I thank you!
Gilda Outremont
from Bethany, CT
May the stars shine brightly for you tonight and many nights!
Lynne Deragon
from Warkworth, Ontario, Canada
Dr. Sacks, your immense curiosity, creativity, imagination, discipline, expertise, persistance, empathy, joy, and love have given the world enduring gifts through your work - gifts which are bright beacons to light the path for other seekers. And so ..... a continuum ..... from which we all benefit and for which we are as grateful for your profound contributions as you have been for the music of Bach.
With profound thanks,
Lynne Deragon
Curtis Smale
from Colorado Springs, CO
Greetings, Dr. Sacks, if you are reading this. I just read your short piece in the New York Times about your reflections on life and what the periodic table and the elements mean to you. I read that article yesterday, and I read it again today. I was touched by your warm heart and I was amazed at the glass-smooth prose. I said a prayer for your condition, and I feel led to share my great hope after life with you, as well. Jesus Christ has provided forgiveness of sins for everyone, and those who place their faith in Him, do in fact receive eternal life, according to Christ's own words in John 6:47. I hope and pray that you find comfort in more than metals and lemurs, as cool as those creations of God are. God bless you, Oliver.
I wish you the best, sir.
Curtis Smale
Debbie Payne
from Benson, NC
My dearest and fondest wish was to go back to NY someday soon and meet Dr. Sacks. Due to my own sickness and surgery I didn't achieve that, but his writings inspired me to complete my education while I was sick. I completed my BA in psychology and working on a Master's in Psychology with a specialty in Mediation and Conflict Resolution.
The first book I ever picked up was "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", but my fav is "Musicophilia". I believe with all my heart that music can be as powerful, if not more so than pills. There was a many of a time when I used music as a therapy for pain, as well as stress relief.
I live in NC and I was excited to hear he was coming to Duke, but was devastated to hear of his cancer.....my heart and prayers go out to Dr.Sacks, as I personally had a scare, but never had cancer. My mother, battled 3 cancers in her life and the last one, chronic lymphocytic leukemia was her last and she passed 2 years ago. She was an elegant and brave lady that decided to go "home" and stop fighting, she was gone in 11 days. When one stops fighting the end comes faster. Never stop fighting and may cancer work to take away one of our most brilliant men of our time! You will be sadly missed and youth of tomorrow will have your movies and writings to inspire them. Thank you for all you have done!
Lisa Middleton
from Vancouver, BC
Dear Dr. Sacks,
I want to thank you for your work on the migraine. To have a writer and a scientist of your calibre devote a book to the subject of the “invisible” means a great deal (how I wish I was bleeding from the eyes).
I became aware of your work during my research of what was going on for me for the first time in my early 30’s (15 years ago now). Migraines run in my family but they were new to me. I have learned I have “classic migraine with aura” with associated auditory hallucinations. Mine are hormonal and it is hoped they will end with menopause but I have learned to live with them.
As a normal (until that point) adult I suddenly experienced signifier/signified dissonance – when in a prodromal phase (when I left it far too long to leave work and go home) I lost the connection between brake lights on the car ahead of me and the need to slow down. I forgot the relationship between a woman and a stroller. In high migraine I hear voices in conversational lilts but I cannot understand them. It feels like rotten, dirty snow in my neck and head. I met with a wonderful neurologist in Vancouver and when I described this he asked me to go on tape for his students as he said, “when I ask patients to describe what is happening they say ‘it hurts’, when I ask them for more they say ‘it really hurts.’” We laughed.
I cannot thank you enough for all of your work. I have followed you since I read your first book. You impacted my life. You made me feel part of a community. As a writer you freed me to question impressions, our interpretation of reality.
I'm sorry you are sick. We all die. I hope you have a good one. I was present at a good death. It can be a glorious real thing. Nothing to fear. I hope you are surrounded by love and the stars.
Thank you.
Lisa Middleton
Keith Gouin
from Melrose, FL
Dr. Sacks,
Very much unlike you, I am not eloquent, but I did want to drop you a note and briefly thank you for your life's work. My own life's work is something I've been thinking about quite a bit recently. My beloved baby brother died from cancer last year and as you might imagine, this has really got me to thinking about the few years we are given to live on this beautiful planet. I am 47 and my utmost desire is to fully live my life from now on. I have admired your work, your writing, and thinking, and just want to say thanks. All the best to you, sir.
Keith
simon
from Northampton, England
Dear Dr Sacks,
This is just to say thank you.Your fascinating books and programmes were an important factor in leading me into a career in mental health and I now work as a psychotherapist in the NHS in England. I have taken a great deal from your work over the years, but most of all I have been inspired by the sense of curiosity, humanity and warmth that seem to me so characteristic of you.
Along with my thanks, I send you my very best wishes and great admiration.
Simon
PS Despite being a great music lover (Bach and Coltrane dominate my cd collection) I have not read your book on music; I plan to rectify this immediately!
Lynne Hummel
from Olympia, WA
You have inspired me for several decades. Your life has been manful not only to me but to so many others. Thank you for sharing your life and your life work
Jim Burnett
from Happy Valley
Dr. Sacks, Your writings and your talks have blessed my life - helping me to better understand self and those I have worked with. Thank you.
Sharon Glaser
from Edison, NJ
Dear Dr. Sacks:
As a longtime appreciator of your writings, your work with neurologically diverse patients, and your sense of humanity, I wanted to send you my best wishes.
You have inspired me since I was an undergraduate student in Boston in the 70s and first read "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat" when I was in graduate school.
You taught me how to speak to patients as I entered the field of Speech Pathology and refined my 'bedside manner". Your writings urged me to look inside the person to treat the gestalt of the person, not only as a patient- to see who and what that person loved, who loves him or her and how to help in a most distressing and often devastating time in a life and the life of a family.
I have read all of your books and many of your musings in different publications and have urged young colleagues to look at your body of work. My husband and I head you speak at Rutgers University many years ago and still remember your enlightening words.
Thank you for continuing to write in these past months, you refer to them as your last months measured by the numbered elements you may not see.
I wish you a Refua Shleimah, a complete recovery in whatever form that takes-to a place of no pain and tranquility, with the knowledge that you have made a deep lasting contribution to the world of medicine and beyond.
With deepest respect , thanks and love,
Sharon Glaser
Robin Ratliff
Dear Dr. Sacks,
I've often thought of writing to you in the past, but now time is short. I thank you first for doing a medical consult with my aunt, who was having gait issues. You were very thorough and patient with her. Thank you, too, for being so gracious as to autograph your books for me at the conclusion of the consult. It meant a lot to me.
I've read most of your books and articles, and most of all I want to thank you for your contribution to making the world a better place. Your work has certainly made me a better person. I have a child with neurological and psychiatric problems, and your work has fundamentally changed my views on my child and on many other people as well. There is an unmistakeable humanity underlying your approach to your patients, and it has helped me to be a more understanding, more loving, more respectful, and less judgmental person, more free of normative expectations. This change helped me to establish a warm and close relationship with my child for the first time in our lives, helping me to be much more appreciative of her, and this has meant the world to me.
Thank you for your wonderful books and personal appearances, which I've been privileged to attend on many occasions over the years, and God bless you.
Linda Race
from Richmond, CA
Hi Oliver, I read your article "My Periodic Table" yesterday. Then I heard you being interviewed on public radio. I have loved your books, your thoughts, and especially, your voice. Part of your essay reminded me of the Pablo Neruda poem "Poetry." (http://www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia/neruda.html), where the last stanza goes like this:
And I, tiny being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
felt myself a pure part
of the abyss.
I wheeled with the stars.
My heart broke loose with the wind.
Thinking of you, Linda Race
Keith R Schwartz
from Dallas
From "Awakenings" and "Uncle Tungsten," your accessibility and your endearing thoughts and deeds have frequently moved me. While I completely tagged along in your adventures into neurological mishaps, your voice has always been softly audible. Not dissimilar from you, I too am estranged from G-d, but there is a place in me that hopes one day you will rejoin Robin Williams and you share eternity in laughter and tears. I shall miss you terribly - a grace so rare passes my path.
Wayne & Sue Tormala
from Phoenix, AZ
We have always felt fortunate to have had you to our house in Phoenix in April of 1993 for dinner with our family. That night, you gave a talk on mental health for Barrow Neurological Institute and Wayland Family Centers (where Wayne was the E.D.). You swam in our pool that afternoon and joined our sons (Derek - 21 at the time and Zak who turned 19 later that year). Around the dinner table in our kitchen, you regaled us with your childhood memory of creating a periodic table from your collection of London train tickets (and even, at times, going far from your beaten path simply to complete the table). Today's Opinion article by you in the New York Times brought back this memory.
Another memory: As dinner ended, Derek asked if anyone at the table wanted the last piece of fish (we think he was hoping that he could have it). We are still delighted that you quickly and somewhat gleefully accepted his offer, and polished off that piece of fish.
As you are on your exit path, we want to take this opportunity to thank you for the work you have done and the lives you have touched, some in very large ways and many others (perhaps even more) through your writing and public speaking.
We lost our oldest son (Derek) suddenly to a brain aneurysm in 2012. He was an avid reader (finishing 4-6 books each week). He loved your work (as a cellist and music teacher, one of his favorites was Musicology). Although we don't profess any faith, I'd love to think of you and Derek hanging out over a fish dinner in the afterworld (if such exists). For now, I will content myself to believe that will happen. Have a good journey.
Affectionately,
Wayne & Sue Tormala
Sharon Votel
from Saint Paul, MN 55105
Dear Dr. Sacks,
It has been an honor and privilege to read, savor, and share your wisdom with master's level psychology students over the past 35 years. A favorite book is Anthropologist on Mars, with your profound assertion that disability is simply a new pathway through which to experience the world. I met you years ago at Hungry Mind Bookstore and have a treasured autographed copy. I make certain, each semester, to introduce you to university students using The Ragin Cajun to synthesize principles of Social Psychology and your phenomenal essay on turning 80 to celebrate aging in Developmental Psychology. You truly enrich my life for which I am humbly grateful, I wish you well on your continued life journey, replete with elements and the cosmos.
Sabrina Knox
from NYC
Dear Dr. Sacks,
You and your work and your view of the world are great treasures to me. When someone has the courage and the heart to pursue their true vocation, as you have in your medical and scientific work and in your writing, I feel that it brings a brilliant kind of light into their work. Thank you for the gift that this light has been in my life and in the lives of so many patients and readers and friends along the way.
My heart is with you as you travel this path,
-Sabrina
Ron Funke
from Eugene Oregon 97405
The world has lost a great mind and a compassionate soul. He will be sorely missed, but his ideas and influence will remain with us for a very long time.
A long time admirer,
Ron
Cirel Magen
from Philadelphia
Thank you for the joys of sharing your passions, your wisdom, your thoughts; and the stories about your family, friends and patients. From the first time I read one of your New Yorker essays, I have been captivated by your writing.
bon voyage,
Cirel
