Press
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Column: A memoir unlike any you’ve read: A young woman’s inspiring struggle with her invisible killer
LA Times, March 08, 2019
Mallory Smith was a toddler in 1995 when doctors finally diagnosed her persistent cough and runny nose: cystic fibrosis. Life expectancy with the disease at the time was between 25 and 30 years.
Hunting Ground Directors to Make Film Based on Memoir of Cystic Fibrosis Victim (Exclusive)
Hollywood Reporter, February 19, 2019
This week, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering will begin filming the untitled documentary that chronicles the life of Mallory Smith, who died in November 2017, two months after receiving a double-lung transplant.
‘I have an urge to do something more’: Heart-wrenching memoir of woman who died of cystic fibrosis and a superbug at 25 chronicles ‘invisible illness’
DailyMail.uk.co, March 12, 2019
Mallory Smith loved nothing more than the salt water and sea – but it was the excess salt on her skin that was a tell-tale sign of her illness.
Because she had two copies of a particular gene, Mallory suffered from cystic fibrosis.
My daughter is gone but her legacy lives on through her writing and phage therapy
STAT News, November 13, 2019
“Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?”
That line from the musical “Hamilton” inspires me to keep telling the story of my daughter Mallory. She died two years ago Friday at the age of 25, two months after receiving a transplant to replace both of her lungs, which had been ravaged by cystic fibrosis and an infection that no drugs could eradicate.
Frank Buckley Interviews: Diane Shader Smith, Author/Publicist
KTLA5, March 13, 2019
Frank Buckley interviews author and publicist Diane Shader Smith, who’s daughter, Mallory, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and authored the posthumously published book “Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life.”
Cystic Fibrosis Patients Turn to Experimental Phage Therapy
New York Times, May 17, 2019
Frank Buckley interviews author and publicist Diane Shader Smith, who’s daughter, Mallory, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and authored the posthumously published book “Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life.”
Panel Decries Lack of Attention for Antimicrobial Resistance
Bio.news, 06/16/22
Frank Buckley interviews author and publicist Diane Shader Smith, who’s daughter, Mallory, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and authored the posthumously published book “Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life.”
Diane Shader Smith Shares Lessons From Her Daughter Mallory’s ‘Unfinished Life
MCPHS University, 6/14/21
“If medicine is in the business of improving our health–human health, we ought to know what makes us humans,” says Dien Ho, PhD, associate professor of Philosophy and Healthcare Ethics. He’s speaking about the MCPHS Center for Health Humanities’ ongoing series of lectures delivered by artists and writers exploring the patient condition.
Book Review: Salt in My Soul
CF Roundtable, February 28, 2021
Salt in My Soul is not an easy book. Like every story of a life authentically lived, it is an alternation of joy and sorrow, expectation, and despair. It is, to borrow the title of another bestseller of years past, a book about the audacity of hope. How can one hope in the face of an inevitably terminal illness?
Read An Excerpt From A Memoir Of A Young Woman Who Died Of A Superbug Infection
Buzzfeed, March 11, 2019
Salt had always been a fundamental part of Mallory Smith’s life. Like all babies born with cystic fibrosis, Mallory had inherited two defective copies of a gene responsible for balancing the salt and water in sweat. The disease caused a thick mucus to form in her lungs, trapping bacteria and triggering infections, and leaving her skin a little salty.
The impact of antibiotic resistance: Sharing stories to advance needed legislation
Infectious Diseases Society of America, May 19, 2022
The compelling story of Mallory Smith, who lived with cystic fibrosis for 25 years and died in 2017 after a 10-year battle with antibiotic-resistant infections, set the stage for a discussion on Capitol Hill on May 18 about the growing impact of resistance, the broken economic model for antibiotic development, the need to use antibiotics wisely and how legislation like the PASTEUR Act can help.
Mother publishes daughter’s diary after her untimely death from cystic fibrosis
NY Post, March 12, 2019
There was a brief window of hope — lasting about six weeks — when Mallory Smith’s long-awaited double-lung transplant appeared to have been a success.
Only then did the cystic fibrosis sufferer and her mom, Diane Shader Smith, seriously discuss turning her journal into a memoir.
A fitting memorial: Superbug treatment named for the patient who inspired its discovery
STAT News, Jan. 23, 2020
Even for the most elite of bacteria-killers, these superbugs were a challenge.
They’d delayed Mallory Smith from getting a lung transplant, and when she’d finally had the surgery, the bacteria quickly migrated into her new lungs. They shrugged off cocktail after cocktail of antibiotics
Looking At Invisible Illnesses
CBS Los Angeles, March 23, 2019
Mallory Smith grew up in Los Angeles. A talented writer, radio producer and podcaster. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford, all while battling cystic fibrosis. She lost that battle at age 25. Mallory’s mom took her diaries and crafted them into a remarkable book.
News 8’s Marcella Lee honored with CFF Community Champion Award
CBS 8, May 13, 2019
In honor of Mother’s Day, the San Diego Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation held its annual “65 Roses Ladies Luncheon” on Thursday, May 9, 2019.
The title “65 Roses” is in honor of a little boy, who years ago, thought that’s how his disease was pronounced.
Shedding Light on Cystic Fibrosis: Mother Publishes Daughter’s Memoir Posthumously
CBS This Morning, March 18, 2019
Mallory Smith: A Richly Compelling Story of an Unfinished Life
San Diego Tribune, May 05, 2019
You might think that a book written by a young woman with cystic fibrosis who died at age 25 would be sad. In the case of the late Mallory Smith’s “Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life” (Random House, 2019, $26), you’d be wrong.
Diane Shader Smith On Her Daughter Mallory’s Incredible Memoir About Living With Cystic Fibrosis, Salt in My Soul, and The Athleticism & Mindset That Powered Her Along The Way
Marni on the Move, August 21, 2019
Mallory Smith lived with Cystic Fibrosis until the age of 25. She had a passion and talent for writing and the smart sense to keep a journal and document her life from the young age of nine.
Forty Must-Read Books to Level Up and Live Your Best Millennial Life.
Read It Forward, November 01, 2019
Mother Carries on Daughter’s Passion for Life, Love of Hawaii
Maui News, September 03, 2019
Californian Mallory Smith, who loved the Hawaiian Islands, died at age 25 from an incurable disease that takes its average patient by age 37, but her words continue to speak to people around the world.
Book Review: Salt in My Soul
Being Charis, September 16, 2019
It’s an interesting feeling to pick up a book when you know how it ends.
When I agreed to write a review of Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life by Mallory Smith I wasn’t thinking about that part. So, when the book arrived and there on the cover was a picture of a very alive-looking person doing a headstand, I was hit with a gut-punch realizing I’d promised to write a review about a book by a person who was already dead.
Illness as Metaphor
Phi Beta Kappa Newsletter, June 17, 2019
Instead of crumbling under the pressures of an insurmountable disease, Mallory Smith (ΦBK, Stanford University) utilized her diagnosis of cystic fibrosis to both advocate for those suffering like her and encourage responsible stewardship of the environment.
A Discussion About the Memoir “Salt in My Soul”
Brentwood School, May 12, 2019
Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life
Danny van Leewen, July 14, 2019
MyOpa, my father’s father, survived the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. He also survived my dad’s death. He told me that he suffered more from losing a son than the concentration camp. I’m unhappy to say that I share the experience of losing a child with my Opa and Diane Shader Smith.
Book Review: Salt in My Soul
Haley’s Life in Color, May 26, 2020
A month or two ago, I finished a powerful memoir that had been on my to-be-read list before it even came out.
But it was a read I needed to sit with. As much as it shook me to my core—tears during the last several chapters included—I couldn’t just run to my computer and type up a review for the blog. Part of that was due to the nature of the subject in general, of course…but so much of it had to do with my own complicated feelings about living with a life-threatening chronic illness.
The Luckiest Man Alive: Loving a Woman with CF
Emily’s Entourage, May 17, 2019
I’m one of the lucky ones to be born without a nonsense CF (CF) gene mutation. In fact, I was lucky to be born without a CF gene mutation at all. Until a few years ago, I had never heard of CF, let alone met a patient. CF had no meaning to me then. That is, until I met and quickly fell in love with a beautiful young woman named Mallory Smith who had both: one common CF gene mutation, and one nonsense one. At that point, CF gene mutations took on a whole new meaning, since loving Mallory made me feel like the luckiest man alive—but having a girlfriend with deadly mutations threatened our future.
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