The author tells the story of a man she calls Mr. Rose, who had been suffering for stomach pain for four weeks before he came to the ER. Dr. Pearson ordered a CT scan that showed a malignant mass the size of two grapefruits. She had examined him and had never felt the growths. As she looked back through his medical history, she realized that she had made a mistake: “The mistake for which I will never be forgiven, because the person who could’ve forgiven me was there before I knew how to ask” (1).

In 1981, Pearson’s father cut off the tip of his index finger with a table saw while clearing land in the East Texas woods. His wife drove him to the hospital where doctors were able to mend the wound. Pearson was born two years later. He would point at Pearson and her brother Matt with the shortened finger and ask his wife how they would send them to college. He had stayed home and worked so that his wife could attend college, and it was important to him that his children have the same opportunity.

When Pearson was 11, the family moved to Port Aransas, Texas, a town of only 3,000 people.