This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley.

Our guest today, J. Wellens, is used to operating on tiny brains.

Not just brains, but all the parts of a kid's central nervous system,

which includes the spine of a fetus he describes as being the size of three grains of rice stacked together.

As a pediatric neurosurgeon, Wellens uses amazing advances in medicine to heal and repair children,

suffering from illnesses and injuries, some caused by car accidents, sports collisions,

and increasingly gunshot wounds.

But in almost every case, he's also dealing with parents, confronting their worst fear,

the prospect of losing a child.

Wellens writes that he's cried with parents, sometimes relieved, other times profoundly sad.

Dr. J. Wellens is a professor of neurological surgery at the Monroe Carroll Junior Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt,

and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

He's also a medical director of the surgical outcome center for kids, which he co-founded,

and he's written op-ed pieces for the New York Times.

He reflects on his experiences in his memoir titled,

All That Moves Us, a pediatric neurosurgeon, his patients,

and their stories of grace and resilience. It's now out in paperback.

He spoke with Fresh Air's Dave Davies last year.

Well, J. Wellens, welcome to Fresh Air.

Thank you, Dave.

The book is told mostly through cases. You take a chapter and tell us a story,

and I wanted to begin with one.

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