Second Ticket to the Dance: Nightwires from the Edge of Life

By Alan Kalmanoff

Twenty years of heart failure taught the author how to live, but not how to die. Haunted by the experience of saying goodbye forever to his wife and two young daughters, he is suddenly given a second chance. On the hair-raising plane ride to a life-saving heart transplant, he records his thoughts in a "nightwire"-an email to friends and family. The nightwires became an immediate and intimate record of all that happened, from heart disease to a daunting recovery from surgery. He expresses his thoughts and feelings throughout, together with a wry exposition of his medical ups and downs, his race to restore an ancient house in Italy, and the moving story of his relationship with the donor family. Honest, witty and philosophical, this book is much more than the diary of a heart recipient-it is a look at the meaning of life itself.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1432747592
• ISBN13: 9781432747596
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Life on the ege of death, death restoring life

The author is a man that had a failing heart and only a transplant could save his life, which could have ended at any time. At a point where his future looked the bleakest, a heart became available in San Francisco while he was in Italy. After a rapid and eventful journey, the transplant was successful, but as Kalmanoff learned, the surgery is the easiest part of the process. This book is in part a series of e-mail messages sent and received by Kalmanoff as he faces a rapid demise, to be saved at almost the last minute by a fatal gift of generosity. The remainder is largely information about the young man that died to provide Kalmanoff a chance at a second life. The messages take you inside the life of a terminally ill man, his thoughts, struggles and emotions as he rapidly goes from near death to near health. There are descriptions of the enormous amount of medication and monitoring that follows the surgery as well as the thoughts and emotions of the people that love the man that died so tragically. Making organs available for transplantation is one of the few ways that life can arise directly from death and is also one of the ways that some sense can be made out of a tragedy. As you read this book, it is clear that organ donation is one of the most selfless and valuable gifts that one can make. It is a way to make a valuable contribution to society and this book is a strong argument for signing up to be an organ donor.

One Man's Survival: One Man's New Life Shared with Passion

There are many reasons to read SECOND TICKET TO THE DANCE: NIGHTWIRES FROM THE EDGE OF LIFE (not the least of which is the catchy title!): this is a true story of one man's living life on borrowed time who is abruptly given a second chance to continue living; some insights on the use of today's most common means of communication via email; first person narrative about transplantation; finding more core meaning to life when comparing our own to that of a man apparently doomed; discovering a relationship between an organ recipient and the family of the deceased donor. This fine book by Alan Kalmanoff has all that and much more. Kalmanoff ran away from a dysfunctional home and managed to not only survive with the aid of a French pen pal, but to continue on to college and law school and creating a non profit criminal justice organization, marry a Burmese doctor while at the same time facing the fact that he had contracted a disease (viral myocarditis) which diminished his health to the point of dangerous cardiac arrhythmias and a heart that was near its end. Never one to give up hope or forget the beauty of his happy marriage and family and their project to salvage an 800 year old Tuscan house on a hill, Kalmanoff was put on the heart transplant lists. This warmly written book relates all of this via emails to his friends and family (he calls them nightwires) and it is this easily readable collection of emails and commentary that take the reader trough the entire process - fear of dying, notification of an available heart, undergoing transplant, enduring the multiple medications for immunosuppression that accompany any transplant, his support from his family and his ultimate relationship with the family of the 24 year old donor Lucas Cromwell. What Alan Kalmanoff has accomplished, then, is a book that teaches the public about the entire organ donor/recipient transplant concept, while at the same time sharing an experience of joie de vivre that serves to awaken any reader to the sacred beauty of life. This is a celebratory book, full of love and wise insights, and should be among the best sellers of non-fiction books soon! Grady Harp, May 10

Hope Is Eternal!!

How fortunate we are for Kal persevering to write down his experience for others to share in. His thoughts and emotions through this very special time of his life are spellbinding and thought provoking. SECOND TICKET TO THE DANCE keeps your mind focused on the real meaning of life itself and helped me take an inventory of how much there is on earth to be grateful for. I read every page with renewed excitement as to how it would all turn out. Reading about Lucas Cromwell, the heart donor, gave me an insight into the person and his family that had to be willing to suffer unimaginable pain so that Kal might live. As a result, I have become an organ donor, talked to my family about my wishes, suggested to them that they also become donors and educated myself about what this really means. Especially interesting was the fact that even if your organs cannot be donated, your skin tissue can be and medical researchers are performing many miracles with skin grafts. There was some repetition in the book, but that just made me know how important this was to the author....and I paid more attention to the meaning of the words This is MUST reading for everyone who doubts the power of hope and wants to feel the magic of miracles in life. Sally Graham Bayer

Second Ticket to the Dance: Nightwires

Very Inspirational book -- couldn't put it down. The author's writings are so filled with emotion and feeling and the insights and feelings of the donor's family are so moving. This book made me so appreciate the struggles so many face and also made me appreciate the good fortune in my own life. I'd really recommend this to all....the author has a gift for writing.

An Incredibly moving and compassionate accounting of a heart transplant.

I finished "Nightwires" this afternoon. I read it in two sittings; I just couldn't put it down. I am moved beyond words. I've never cried this much reading a book. I cried throughout the second half of the book. I felt a mother's emotion when she hugged her son's heart in the chest of the author. When Gracie the cat died, I jumped out of my chair and embraced my 16 year-old obese cat who's living on borrowed time since he survived a mysterious accident and a broken hip. When Cousin Cary died, I felt genuine grief. What a wonderful person. I feel like I know these people through the author's words . . . and theirs. Reading this book reminded me of my mother's struggle with cancer and ultimate passing, my love for my family, my own fortune of good health, a healthy and safe daughter, my worries over my husband's health and endless other pure life confirming emotions. Al Kalmanoff is a brilliant writer. This book is moving and uplifting.