moments shows that no matter what life has to offer, you take the good with the bad and call it your own.

I am extremely grateful for this article. I'd never have thought I would be sitting at my computer crying for the loss of someone I didn't even know. Something in the article made me dig deep inside and make peace with myself, made me appreciate the few things that are going well in my life. I resolved to change my attitude, and not be bitter or intimidated. In a nutshell, life is too short. Thank you again for an inspirational piece.

Tamara Marcucci
Albany, N.Y.

Incredible account
I just wanted to say thanks and "wow" regarding the "Dying Well" article, with the story of Ethan Bennett Gagne, in your Winter 2004 issue. What an incredible account! It was full of such hope, despair, love, life, courage, and strength and was written from the heart. It's truly a remarkable story. Thanks so much for sharing it.

In addition, I found Mary Daubenspeck's courageous story in the Fall issue very moving. Keep up the good work!

Laura Osborn
Norwich, Vt.

Personal testimony
I am a master's student in healthcare informatics (though not at Dartmouth), and tonight I was doing research on the Internet when I found the article by Dr. Gagne about her son.

We lost our first baby at birth many years ago, so this article touched some pretty raw nerves. Like Dr. Gagne, we have never forgotten our first son, who died within minutes. We refer to him as "the personality we never had a chance to know." I would like to, through this forum, send Dr. Gagne my best wishes and let her know that 29 years later (I am a mature student) we still remember. I hope she will take comfort from our experience.

I have for some time had an interest in bereavement counseling. As part of my studies, I plan to explore the dissemination of information for those facing bereavement so they might get the proper medical and psychological information and support to help them develop strength and courage and come to realize that death is as much a part of

Be sure to tell us when you move! If your address changes and you want to keep getting Dartmouth Medicine, just tear off the address panel from the back of a recent issue, write your new address next to the old one, and mail it to: Dartmouth Medicine, One Medical Center Drive (HB 7070), Lebanon, NH 03756. It helps us greatly—since our mailing list is drawn from six separate databases—if you send the actual cover or a copy of it. If that's not possible, please include both your old and new addresses. Note, too, that if you receive more than one copy of the magazine, it's because of those six databases (which are in different formats, so they can't be automatically "de-duped"). We're happy to eliminate duplications, but it's a help to have the address panel on all the copies you get, not just the one(s) you'd like deleted.

life as living. It might even be my master's dissertation.

Publishing this kind of personal testimony is a very valuable service. I commend your writers for the courage to share and Dartmouth Medicine for the courage to publish.

Foster Kerrison
Laconia, N.H.

Backstory on the move
As reported on page 15 of your Winter 2004 issue, President Wright's recognition of David McLaughlin's key role in relocating the Medical Center was right on target.

The tremendous success of the new DHMC makes the decision to move seem like a slamdunk, but in fact the project was highly controversial. The DMS faculty was leery about leaving the Dartmouth campus, the Hospital had invested millions of dollars in plans for an expansion at the existing site, and the Center's employees were not enthusiastic about moving from the cozy confines of Hanover to the wilds of Lebanon. On top of all that, many people believed the high cost to be prohibitive.

As vice president for development and director of the DHMC capital campaign at that time, I was aware of McLaughlin's tireless efforts to advance the move. One small example involved me directly. I was host for a national meeting on our campus of the Unnamed Society, a group of chief development officers at 25 leading academic medical centers. Dave called me to ask if he could address our gathering. He used the occasion to present DHMC's options of staying on site or of building a new medical center in a new location and asked the group what they would recommend. The question became the main discussion topic for the rest of our meeting. The virtually unanimous advice was to go for it.

I have no idea if the Unnamed Society's recommendation had any effect on the final decision, but at the very least our meeting advanced a national awareness of the issues involved. The incident illustrates the imagination and total dedication that Dave McLaughlin contributed to moving DHMC. He will be missed by all who knew him.

William D. Fissinger
Hudson, Ohio

More polio connections
With regard to the letters about "polio connections" in the Winter 2004 Dartmouth Medicine, I have two comments:

First, Basil O'Connor [who was the subject of a feature in our Fall 2004 issue] was a classmate and a great friend of my father's (in the Dartmouth College Class of '12). I can remember how pleased my father was when Basil was appointed to head the Infantile Paralysis Association by President Roosevelt, also a hero of my father's.

Second, in 1955, while I was a second-year resident in medicine at Hitchcock, I remember admitting a patient—a leader of the Episcopal Church in New Hampshire—from an island in Casco Bay off the coast of Maine. He had been under the care of Dr. Walter Lobitz, a Hitchcock dermatologist, for severe eczema. He was on continuous cortisone orally and would adjust his dose to the severity of his disease.

Little did he or anyone else know that two of his children had come in contact with an active case of polio, though neither were subject to paralysis. Alas, their father got a full dose but had none of the