My Lobotomy: A Memoir-Fast Shipping

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I
n this heartfelt memoir from one of the youngest recipients of the transorbital lobotamy, Howard Dully shares the story of a painfully dysfunctional childhood, a misspentyouth, his struggle to claim the life that was taken from him, and his redemption.

At twelve, Howard Dully was guilty of the same crimes as other boys his age: he wasmoody and messy, rambunctious with his brothers, contrary just to prove a point,and perpetually at odds with his parents. Yet somehow, this normal boy became oneof the youngest people on whom Dr. Walter Freeman performed his barbaric transorbital—orice pick—lobotomy.

Abandoned by his family within a year of the surgery, Howardspent his teen years in mental institutions, his twenties in jail, and his thirtiesin a bottle. It wasn’t until he was in his forties that Howard began to pull hislife together. But even as he began to live the “normal” life he had been denied,Howard struggled with one question: Why?

There were only three people who would know the truth: Freeman, the man who performedthe procedure; Lou, his cold and demanding stepmother who brought Howard to the doctor’sattention; and his father, Rodney. Of the three, only Rodney, the man who hadn’tintervened on his son’s behalf, was still living. Time was running out. Stable andhappy for the first time in decades, Howard began to search for answers.

Through his research, Howardmet other lobotomy patients and their families, talked with one of Freeman’s sonsabout his father’s controversial life’s work, and confronted Rodney about his , in the archive where the doctor’s files are stored, he finally came face toface with the truth.

Revealing what happened to a child no one—not his father, notthe medical community, not the state—was willing to protect, My Lobotomy exposesa shameful chapter in the history of the treatment of mental illness. Yet, ultimately,this is a powerful and moving chronicle of the life of one man.