Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them

Randy Christensen, M.D.

apr, 2011 · Sotuvchi: Crown

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An unforgettable and inspiring memoir of an extraordinary doctor who is saving lives in a most unconventional way.

Ask Me Why I Hurt is the touching and revealing first-person account of the remarkable work of Dr. Randy Christensen. Trained as a pediatrician, he works not in a typical hospital setting but, rather, in a 38-foot Winnebago that has been refitted as a doctor’s office on wheels. His patients are the city’s homeless adolescents and children.

In the shadow of an affluent American city, Dr. Christensen has dedicated his life to caring for society's throwaway kids—the often-abused, unloved children who live on the streets without access to proper health care, all the while fending off constant threats from thugs, gangs, pimps, and other predators. With the Winnebago as his moveable medical center, Christensen and his team travel around the outskirts of Phoenix, attending to the children and teens who need him most.

With tenderness and humor, Dr. Christensen chronicles everything from the struggles of the van’s early beginnings, to the support system it became for the kids, and the ultimate recognition it has achieved over the years. Along with his immense professional challenges, he also describes the trials and joys he faces while raising a growing family with his wife Amy. By turns poignant, heartbreaking, and charming, Dr. Christensen's story is a gripping and rich memoir of his work and family, one of those rare books that stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page.

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RANDY CHRISTENSEN, M.D., is a staff physician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Since 2000, he has been the medical director of Crews’n Healthmobile, a mobile medical clinic that provides primary and comprehensive medical care to homeless children. Dr. Christensen has been the recipient of several awards for his work, including the CNN Heroes award and People Magazine’s “Heroes Among Us.” He lives in Phoenix with his wife, Amy, also a pediatrician, and their three children.

RENE DENFELD is the author of three books, including the international bestseller The New Victorians (1995) and has written for The New York Times Magazine, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Oregonian. A passionate advocate for the adoption of foster children, she lives in Portland, Oregon, with her three children, all adopted from foster care.