Dr. Wes Ely Wins Christopher Award for "Every Deep-Drawn Breath"

Nashville, Tenn.- based author Wes Ely, MD was honored with a Christopher Award for his book Every Deep-Drawn Breath: A Critical Care Doctor on Healing, Recovery, and Transforming Medicine in the ICU, (Scribner/Simon & Schuster). It is one of 12 books for adults and young people recognized as the #ChristopherAwards mark their 73rd year. The authors join writers, producers and directors of 10 winning TV/cable and feature films.

Dr. Ely is donating 100% net proceeds of the book to help COVID survivors and family members rebuild their lives. The book shares his quest to return “humanity to doctoring” by tending to patients’ emotional and spiritual needs, as well as his effort to end a practice in hospital ICUs that leaves patients suffering from long-term brain problems. The title is from East of Eden by John Steinbeck: "The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet."

Ralph C. Wood, Emeritus Professor of Theology and Literature, Baylor University, wrote that the book "deserves a wide and deep readership. . . . it summons physicians to seek relief for their patients' endemic suffering, but not by standard yet short-sighted procedures that ignore post-ICU torment. On the contrary, doctors must humbly recognize their own limits, indeed their inevitable mistakes. Precisely and ever so admirably, this is what Wes Ely has done."

Dr. Ely predicts that over the next 10 years, 40 to 60 million people in this country will be admitted to the ICU. Most of these hospitalizations will be sudden, unexpected, and harrowing experiences that can alter patients and their families physically and emotionally, with effects that endure for years. In the book you will experience the world of critical care through the eyes of a physician who changed his clinical practice to offer person-centered health care, and through cutting-edge research convinced others to do the same.

E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH, an internist, pulmonologist, and critical care physician, earned his MD at Tulane University School of Medicine, in conjunction with a Masters in Public Health. He serves as the Grant W. Liddle endowed chair in medicine and is a physician-scientist and tenured professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is also the associate director of aging research for the Tennessee Valley Veteran’s Affairs Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center (GRECC). He is the founder and co-director of the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center, and a pioneer in the investigation of delirium and long-term cognitive outcomes, including dementia, in survivors of critical illness. Dr. Ely has had numerous studies published in The New England Journal, JAMA, and The Lancet, and his writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA TODAY, State News, The Daily Beast, and numerous other publications.

The celebrated authors, illustrators, writers, producers, and directors, whose works exemplify this Chinese proverb “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness,” also “affirm the highest values of the human spirit,” said Tony Rossi, The Christophers’ Director of Communications. “After the hardships and suffering we’ve witnessed and endured in the last two years, we need stories of hope, light, and unity to lift our spirits and guide us toward a brighter path,” he said.

The Christophers, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity. The ancient Chinese proverb—“It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness”— guides its publishing, radio, and awards programs. More information about The Christophers is available at www.christophers.org.