Thank you for taking an interest in my work. Below, you will find links/urls to some of my favorite pieces:
‘Solo Man’ (25-minute non-narrated audio documentary) (KCRW Los Angeles/NPR)
It’s a modern adventure story against a timeless backdrop – the deep, rolling solitude of the ocean. In his trip around the globe, Erden Eruç traveled by bike and by foot, but mostly by boat – propelling himself forward with only the strength of his own arms. It was a life-changing, record-breaking mission, filled with the kind of adventure and adrenaline that can be hard to leave behind when normal life comes rushing up to replace it.
Listen here: https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/unfictional/solo-man
‘Going “Bloodless” in Surgery: A Religious Group Shakes Up Medicine’ (KNKX Seattle/NPR)
Jeffrey Heckman, from Snohomish, WA, will be the first to tell you life is unpredictable.In the summer of 2015, while vacationing on San Juan Island with friends and family, Jeff was studying his Bible when, all of a sudden, an intense and unfamiliar pain struck him. The culprit was an aortic dissection – a tear in the large vein branching off from the heart. He was airlifted to Providence Medical Center, where renowned surgeon, Dr. James Brevig, prepared to conduct what would be a meticulous 10-hour surgery. What happened to Jeff is rare; there are fewer than 20,000 aortic dissections in the United States per year. In each case, the odds aren’t great. Eighty percent of patients never make it to the hospital alive. If you are among the surviving 20 percent, you still have to get through open heart surgery. Jeff was lucky to be alive. But there was one catch: He could not accept a blood transfusion under any circumstances.
Listen here: https://www.knkx.org/post/blood-ties-sound-effect-episode-128
‘Super Bowl Veteran Dave Pear: “It Just Wasn’t Worth It to Me”‘ (WBUR Boston/NPR)
“Quite frankly, they’re just waiting for us to die. They just want us to go away. The problem is we have nowhere to go.” –Dave Pear
Listen here: https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2016/02/06/dave-pear-nfl-concussions-injuries
‘Medicine Without Blood’
The Atlantic
Proponents of “blood management” hope that transfusions will one day be a thing of the past.
Read the story: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/06/blood-management-bloodless-medicine-transfusions/395054/
‘The Nature of the Beast’ – A Four-Part Expose on the Opioid Crisis in Snohomish County
Part One: ‘The Nature of the Beast’
Part Two: ‘The Second Victims’
Part Three: ‘The Little Blue Book’
Part Four: ‘The Least of Light’
Commentary: ‘What We Are Unable to Say’ – Or, Why I Wrote About Heroin Addiction for a Month Straight
Read the full series here: https://alexashleywriting.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/heroin-series_parts-1-4-and-commentary.pdf
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