Scars of Gold is Sharon Stoliar’s true story of giving birth in the hands of a system that failed her and the long-lasting effects it has had on her life. In November 2011, Sharon Stoliar became a mom for the first time. After a fairly unproblematic pregnancy, she was sent off to an emergency cesarean section due to her posterior-facing baby. However, instead of getting to heal and enjoy the precious first moments of her baby’s life, she was faced with the fact that she had developed acute compartment syndrome, a rare complication in the postpartum period that requires urgent decompressive surgery (a fasciotomy) to prevent permanent damage and amputation. Sharon’s case, however, was not handled as it should have been despite her being a midwife herself and trying to open the medical staff’s eyes in order to treat her properly. The poor care she obtained left her with immense problems in her right leg that continue to cause physical challenges in her daily life.

This eye-opening book left me speechless reading the author’s story. Why is the most beautiful thing in the world handled so poorly? Another thing I thought of while reading is all the women whose healthy babies die during birth due to various causes; I can’t even imagine the pain these women face. And finally, the fact that this doesn’t just happen during childbirth; it occurs in all aspects of seeking medical help and all around the world. People end up with a worse prognosis, are severely injured, or even die because of the lack of medical attention or the carelessness of the medical practitioners they relied on to help them.

Sharon is truly a hero and inspiration both as a mother who went through a horrible experience leaving her with lifelong health issues and as a midwife who is passionate about making a change. And on top of that, she doesn’t put the blame on anyone, knowing that there was nothing they could do to prevent her syndrome, but rather encourages her colleagues to listen because if they did, she might have ended up with fewer consequences now.

I genuinely applaud the author for sharing her experience, no matter how painful it is for her, and how time doesn’t heal everything. I commend her for dedicating her life to helping better a somewhat broken system, and I think that this book should be a conversation starter for people who have been wronged and scared by the hands who were supposed to heal them, no matter if it was new moms or patients suffering from anything else. 

Pages: 130 | ASIN : B0BLWCVRTL

Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/02/03/scars-of-gold/