Inspirational Memoirs of Survivor - Five Open Heart Surgeries

Random House Publishers release moving autobiography of new Samoan author - Andrew Ta'afuli Fiu. Purple Heart is a book that addresses serious medical and societal issues, growing up in New Zealnd in the 1970s & 1980s with insight, warmth and humour.

(PRWEB) July 8, 2006 -- Random House Publishers release moving autobiography of new Samoan author - Andrew Ta'afuli Fiu. Purple Heart is a book that addresses serious medical and societal issues, growing up in New Zealnd in the 1970s & 1980s with insight, warmth and humour.

In the early 1970s Andrew Fiu came to Ponsonby, Auckland, as a three-year-old, part of the wave of immigration from Samoa that turned Auckland’s inner city suburbs into a vibrant cultural melting pot. At 14 he was misdiagnosed as having flu when in fact he had rheumatic fever, a disease endemic in Pacific Island communities that causes serious heart damage.

Purple Heart is the account of his struggle with an uncertain future after undergoing a record five open-heart surgeries over two decades. During the long periods spent in hospital, he has watched helplessly as friends and roommates died and on two occasions has died and been revived. This memoir is the story of his hospital years, his clashes with his parents’ traditional values, the wisdom he learnt from his fellow patients and the medical miracles performed on his heart by famous surgeon Alan Kerr.

It’s the story of growing up a Pacific Islander in Auckland, a reflection of a time when schools made Pacific Island children anglicise their names and hospitals did not have translators.It’s an account of appalling racism and an insight into the intergenerational tensions in Pacific Island migrant families. It’s a testimony to deep friendship, boundless love, determination and courage, written with grace, love and bucketloads of humour. This unque book of survival and inspiration contains all Post Operative notes of all five open heart surgeries.

###