This Boy We Made: A Memoir of Motherhood, Genetics, and Facing the Unknown

On an otherwise ordinary morning Harris and her husband find their 22-month-old son Tophs awake—but troublingly lethargic and unresponsive. A visit to the ER seems to indicate a case of low glucose, but as time passes it’s clear that while Tophs is energetic and sweet, something is affecting his physical and mental development. A battery of tests finds no answers for Tophs’s symptoms or what causes them, but have a shock for Harris: she carries the BRCA1 gene, putting her at high risk for breast cancer and leaving her with doubts about her and her family’s future. Her recounting of a life upended by medical revelations touches on the sureties and doubts of motherhood, her lifelong anxiety and its intersection with love for her children, the challenges of seeking medical support as a Black woman, and the vital support of her husband in speaking out for her and Toph’s needs. Throughout the book, she offers insight into inequities in health care and what it means to strive for social justice.