Recently, I have experienced extremes of emotion on hearing news from family, friends and patients who are all remarkable survivors.  

To give context to the first part of this story, I must tell you that my mother felt a huge responsibility and burden at the end of her life. 

She was the repository of the stories, photos and letters of her extended family, who were all desperate to survive during Hitler’s rise to power. 

My mother was the last remaining witness to those times, among all her relatives in Europe, and she did not want those who had suffered and perished to be forgotten.