My name is M. LaVora Perry. I am the founder of Forest Hill Publishing. In 2006, I was asked by a publisher to write a book about my friends Andrea and Marques Cain. At that time, Andrea, Marques' mom, was a thriving heart transplant survivor. However, she had just learned that 12 year-old Marques also needed a new heart. 

Unfortunately, our publisher went out of business before we completed the book. But Andrea and I decided to go forward anyway. Recently, we decided that the book should include stories of several people affected by organ donation. Therefore, I'm providing the following information to explain more about the book and the kind of stories we seek:

Forest Hill Publishing will launch a book relaying true stories of transplant recipients and donors of color. People of color represent a disproportionately high number of those who need organ transplants--and die because the didn't receive them--and a disproportionately low number of people who serve as organ and tissue donors. Click here to read more about this reality in a article from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.

Our hope at Forest Hill Publishing is that our upcoming book will inspire many more people of color to become organ and tissue donors. 

If you are an organ transplant recipient or donor, or a relative or friend of one, and you'd like your story considered for this project, please send a 2 - 5 sentence description of your transplant experience in a message with "Transplant Story" in the subject line to email @ foresthillpublishing.com. To raise awareness about this project, Forest Hill Publishing reserves the right to publish, on the Internet and elsewhere, brief comments sent to us in response to this call for submissions 

If you are selected, we will send you a questionnaire, which must be completed in the English language and returned to us by April 1, 2010. If you have questions about this project, please email us.

To read an article about the the mother and teen son heart transplant recipients who inspired this book, click the image below, or click here.

To learn more about Forest Hill Publishing, 
visit www.foresthillpublishing.com

Thank you.

M. LaVora Perry, Founder, Forest Hill Publishing,
and the Forest Hill Publishing Editorial Team
email @ foresthillpublishing.com

              
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