Quinn's Great Expectations

摘要

What does it feel like to be different from other people? When he was 14, after years of unexplained health problems and severelearning disabilities, Quinn Bradlee was diagnosed with VCFS, a random genetic mutation that afflicts one in 2,000 people.Now 26, Quinn examines the unique circumstances of his life. The son of the writer Sally Quinn and the former Washington Posteditor Ben Bradlee, Quinn has lived with both privilege and limitations. This is his story.When I was first born, everyone thought I was totally and completely normal.According to my mom, the nurses called me "Mr. Mellow," because while all the other babies would scream and cry I would just kind of look around. She also says that when she first had me in her arms, she told me that she loved me and that I could be anything I wanted to be in the world. I hope that is still true. But pretty soon after I was born, my doctor detected a heart murmur, and when I was aboutthree months old, I had to have open-heart surgery. I think this was a pretty crappy time for my parents. They thought I might die, and I could have died. My mom says the night before my heart operation was one of the worst nights of her life. She wasn't allowed to nurse me. She could barely even hold me. When they took me into the operating room the next day, she basically fainted. Apparently my dad turned to her and said, "Just think of it this way. He'll never have to go to war."