In October, 1972, a chartered Uruguayan Army flight left Montevideo, Uruguay for Santiago, Chile, with passengers traveling to play in a rugby match. The flight, which carried 45 crew and passengers, crashed while flying through a pass in the Andes Mountains. Of the 45, twelve died immediately, and a number died of injuries and from an avalanche later. The survivors, all rugby players and an older man, numbered 16 by the time they were rescued in late December after two intrepid young men, Roberto Canessa - a 19 year old medical student - and Fernando Parrado, set out to walk to civilization. After 8 wrenching days walking through the mountains in the direction of what they thought was help, Canessa and Parrado were found by two shepherds. They were able to tell their rescuers where the others were and they were all airlifted to safety. It was there, then, in the midst of the joyous reunions with their families, that the world began asking questions. Questions like what the 16 ate to survive their mountainous captivity? Answers like pieces of meat from the bodies of those who died in the crash. The "world" was shocked. But what would you have done if faced with the same situation?

One of the young men who had made that long, arduous walk in freezing conditions has written a book describing the horror he and the others experienced and how they had the will to survive. Roberto Canessa, who became a world-famous pediatric heart surgeon, tells the story in his book, "I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired my Calling to Save Lives", and it's a surprising one. i expected religious belief to be the reason for his endurance, but, in fact, it was love for both his family and his girlfriend, and later wife, Laura. He wanted to survive for them, and for what he felt he could contribute to the world if he did. His knowledge of the basics of medicine helped after the plane crash, but Canessa makes it clear that everyone pitched in to help, much as they had worked together as a rugby team. Even the decision to eat from the bodies of their dead was made as a group, and several said they hoped their bodies would help save others if they died.

The book is written in Roberto Canessa's voice, but other people's reminisces are added to the text. The book is mostly about the plane crash, but there is a large part about the young patients who had come to Roberto Canessa, either in utero or shortly after birth, with heart problems he was able to fix. Most of the patients survived, but some didn't. Canessa is open about those who didn't survive.

The reader of a memoir usually doesn't know how much to "trust" in the telling of a life by the memoir writer. Dr Canessa's writing seems to be heartfelt and is the story of a life-changing event that I assume is correct in how he saw it and lived it.