We owe a great debt of gratitude to the many people whose contributions, large and small, made this book possible. A number of them became something more than sources during the three years we worked on the project, and they have our appreciation and affection.
Obviously, the book would not exist if not for what Linda Norton saw that others didn’t and for what Bill Fitzpatrick and Bob Simpson did about it. We thank all for their lucid accounts of the experience; each devoted many hours to the task. The cooperation of defense lawyers Bob Miller and Ray Urbanski was also vital to our portrait of the case. They made our work easier in many ways. Thanks are also owed to Bob Courtright, and to the members of the New York State Police who worked under him on the Hoyt case in Tioga County. Peter Tynan, meanwhile, was always a friendly face and a helpful hand in Syracuse.
Loretta, Chuck, and George Hoyt have our deepest thanks both for their memories and their kindnesses, as well as our admiration for the strength of character they demonstrated throughout a painful ordeal. Thanks also to Arthur and Natalie Hilliard, who were good to us under extremely difficult circumstances. Likewise, we extend our appreciation to Jane Bowers and her parents, James and Anita, who spent many hours talking about someone they would sooner forget, Jane’s former husband Stephen Van Der Sluys.
Among the former members of Upstate Medical Center’s pediatric nursing staff, our special thanks go to Thelma Schneider and Gail Pfeiffer for the time, energy, and support they gave us. Their memories brought the chapters about Molly and Noah to life, and Thelma and her husband, Dr. Jack Schneider, were of invaluable help in the chapters covering Alfred Stein-Schneider’s Syracuse years. In Baltimore, Dr. J. Tyson Tildon was generous with his time, his perceptions, and his files. In Washington, Jehu Hunter and Gil Hill provided us with valuable historical background. In Atlanta, Denise Brooks helped fill out the picture. And in Seattle, we thank Carrie Sheehan for both her perspective and her moral support.
This book would have been much diminished without the candid and trenchant recollections of three admirable physicians who play key roles in the events we describe: J. Bruce Beckwith, Jerold Lucey, and Marie Valdes-Dapena. We could not have made our way through the thicket of medical and political complexities of the SIDS world without them, and we benefited from their intelligence and integrity throughout the project. We also owe a great debt of gratitude to Dr. Andrew Steele, head of the infant apnea program at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, who became our friend, confidant, and apnea adviser. The deeper into the book we got, the more we came to depend on him for reality checks. Along with Bruce Beckwith and Jerry Lucey, he also helped us immeasurably by reading and commenting on large portions of the manuscript.
We didn’t find our way to Dr. Tom Truman until four months after we had delivered the first draft of the manuscript, but he turned out to be, for us, one of the real heroes of this story. Not only did he have the strength of his convictions to pursue his remarkable and vital research at Massachusetts General, but with a good measure of his reputation at stake, he entrusted his story to us. We hope it has the effect he desires: to educate his peers and ultimately, perhaps, to save a few children.
For their various contributions and courtesies we also thank Harvey LaBar, Frank Budzielek, Julie Evans, Clarence Lacey, Patti Myers, Violet Metikulus, Judge Vincent Sgueglia, Pete Hoffmann, John Sherman, Jessica Mooney, Deborah Cosher, Michelle York, Sheryl Nathans, John Falitico, Saul Goldberg, Mary Dore, Andy Hanson, Ed Nizalowski, Alberta Weisz, Janice Jacobs, Lynne Rocha, Aaron Gowan, John Graham, and Drs. Michael Baden, Janice Ophoven, Vincent DiMaio, Abraham Bergman, George Little, and Stuart Asch. We thank, also, the many people of Tioga County who made us feel welcome in their community.
Closer to home, Paul Levitt was a sounding board from the beginning, and we repaid him for his always incisive counsel by asking him to read the entire first draft. He gamely did so, and the final product is better for his comments. Thanks, as well, to all our good friends and colleagues, including many at Newsday, whose encouragement carried us farther than they knew. We continually drew on the infinite reservoir of faith of our families, and in this we mean to include our most ardent cheering section, our children Allison, Amanda, and Jordan, whose patience with frequently distracted parents (who for a long time refused to tell them what the book was about) was amazing. Thanks to our agent, Jane Dystel, who was always in our corner. At Bantam Books, Lauren Field was the source of astute and meticulous counsel. Saralyn Smith provided another set of careful eyes. Finally, this book could not have had a more dedicated or skillful editor than Ann Harris, who was unflagging in her belief in us and the book we envisioned and whose intelligence and good judgment are reflected on every page.