The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Georgia Center for the Book Present Dr. Jay Wellons in converation with Dr. Hughes Evans – All That Moves Us

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Georgia Center for the Book Present Dr. Jay Wellons in converation with Dr. Hughes Evans – All That Moves Us

Wednesday, Jul 20, 2022 7:00 PM

Location:
Decatur Library
215 Sycamore St.
Decatur, GA 30030

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT WAS PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED TO TAKE PLACE AT THE JIMMY CARTER LIBRARY. THE EVENT HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE DECATUR LIBRARY.

In his new book, Dr. Jay Wellons pulls back the curtain to reveal the profoundly moving triumphs, haunting complications, and harrowing close calls that characterize the life of a pediatric neurosurgeon, bringing the high-stakes drama of the operating room to life with astonishing candor and honest compassion. 

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, A Cappella Books, and Georgia Center for the Book welcome the author for a discussion of his breathtaking memoir, “All That Moves Us: A Pediatric Neurosurgeon, His Young Patients, and Their Stories of Grace and Resilience,” on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at 7 PM.  The author will appear in conversation with Dr. Hughes Evans, Marcus Professor of General Pediatrics Division Director at the Emory School of Medicine.

This event is free and open to the public. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the venue. 

For the safety of our invited speakers, staff, and all attendees, we respectfully request that masks be worn in the venue for the duration of the event. We are currently limiting the capacity of the Auditorium to promote social distancing, so registration is required. We encourage groups to sit together, but please only sit in the designated rows, and keep a respectful distance from other attendees.

About the Book

Tumors, injuries, ruptured vascular malformations—there is almost no such thing as a non-urgent brain surgery when it comes to kids. For a pediatric neurosurgeon working in the medical minefield of the brain—in which a single millimeter in every direction governs something that makes us essentially human—every day presents the challenge, and the opportunity, to give a new lease on life to a child for whom nothing is yet fully determined and all possibilities still exist. 

Reflecting on lessons learned over twenty-five years and thousands of operations completed on some of the most vulnerable and precious among us, Wellons recounts in gripping detail the moments that have shaped him as a doctor, as a parent, and as the only hope for countless patients whose young lives are in his hands.

Wellons shares scenes of his early days as the son of a military pilot, the years of grueling surgical training, and true stories of what it’s like to treat the brave children he meets on the threshold between life and death. From the little boy who arrived at the hospital near death from a gunshot wound to the head, to the eight-year-old whose shredded nerves were repaired using suture as fine as human hair, to the brave mother-to-be undergoing fetal spinal cord surgery, “All That Moves Us” is an unforgettable portrait of the countless human dramas that take place in a busy modern children’s hospital—and a meditation on the marvel of life as seen from under the white-hot lights of the operating room.

About the Author

Jay Wellons, MD, MSPH, is a professor in the departments of neurological surgery, pediatrics, plastic surgery, radiology, and radiological sciences at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He holds the Cal Turner Chair, is the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, and is the medical director for the Surgical Outcomes Center for Kids (SOCKs), which he co-founded. He has written op-eds for The New York Times. Jay Wellons lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his family.