Barring devastating accidents and disseminated cancer, man usually dies because of the failure of just one organ. Theoretically, through progressive replacement of failing organs, man could live forever and veritably spout the fountain of youth for the first time in history. However, a critical four-hour survival time between organ donor and recipient is a limiting factor for making organ replacement feasible. To start the fountain flowing, to offer transplantation on demand, and to anticipate over-flowing demands, would require one of the greatest discoveries of the decade-a simple means for organ preservation. Through meticulous research and happenstance, Dr. Frederick Middleton does indeed discover a unique freeze-dry formula to preserve organs without fracturing the cell walls, so invariably typical of any freezing or thawing process. But, as with all things good, a profiteering underworld soon corrupts the organ exchange business, garnering fortunes from trusting recipients who hopefully would give most anything they own for one just more fling at life. Within this milieu, this struggle for life, lies a stream of patients whose heart-rending stories question traditional concepts for dealing with the dying. UPDATED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Maurice S. Rawlings, M.D. - Physician to President Dwight Eisenhower - Physician to Joint Chiefs of Staff - Assoc. Clinical Professor of Medicine, Univ. of Tennessee - National Teaching Faculty, American Heart Association - Medical Director, Aventis and ZLB Bio-science Laboratories - Author of Beyond Death's Door, Before Death Comes, Life Wish, and To Hell and Back. (Multiple languages. The first and last publications were also made into movies). - Fellow, American Colleges of Cardiology, Angiology and Chest Physicians - Diplomat, American Board of Cardiology - Chairman, TVA Medical Retirement Board - Pilot, Instrument, Multi-engine
