HIYA:  Patient Advocacy was Her Calling and Salvation

An inspired, poignant and disturbing biography of a woman (Hiya), known personally to Karen Winston, who had the potential for greatness, but who, from an early age, painfully learned that the price for her health and ultimately her survival required much more than finding Dr. “Right.” Her tenacity to research and learn, bordering on obsession, enabled her to stay steps ahead of the many doctors she met, but at great personal cost.

What readers have said…
The book was very well written and I found the Epilogue to be particularly compelling and strong.  The story itself kept me interested and motivated to keep reading.  I have known patients like Hiya in my years in healthcare and I could well see how you became very attached to her. — anonymous professional caregiver

Hiya’s story is illustrative of the key messages involving patient advocacy and the healthcare system.  For others, perhaps they’d like to read the Epilogue first, they then would read Hiya’s amazing story of tenacity. — Lorraine Stiehl, patient advocate coordinator, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine