The Ditchdigger’s Daughters movie is scheduled to be re-broadcast this Sunday, July 11th at 5:30 pm (EDT), on BET. Get your TIVO out, if you haven’t seen it before.
- Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH
The Ditchdigger’s Daughters
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The Ditchdigger’s Daughters on BET on July 11
Friday, July 9th, 2010The Ditchdigger’s Daughters film is back
Sunday, May 9th, 2010In 1997, a movie version of my memoir, The Ditchdigger’s Daughters, aired on The Family Channel. And while the film covers only a fraction of the book, it was still a thrill to see the actors playing the roles of my family members and me.
The film was never released commercially on DVD and seemed all but forgotten. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that BET network was broadcasting my story – and lots of people on Facebook are talking about it. I caught the film version last weekend as a movie premiere on BET, which makes me think that it might be broadcast again, so you should check the schedules.
Of course, Hollywood likes to focus on the conflict, so the movie was more about the struggles between my father and my older sister, Jeanette and less about what made the book a bestseller: how my father and mother overcame incredible obstacles to build a better life for their daughters.
It’s fun to watch but if you really want the whole story, I hope you’ll read the book.
And if you want to know what happens after that book ends, please keep an eye out for my next memoir, Something to Prove, scheduled to be published in December.
- Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH
Babies I’ve delivered, all grown up
Friday, April 30th, 2010Other doctors deal mostly with unhappy occasions, from a sniffle to serious illness, but obstetricians are there for the happiest times – the birth of a child – which is why I always say I have the best job ever.
I was reminded of just how wonderful my specialty has been to me by an e-mail from a patient transferred to my care 16 years ago, who eventually had to undergo a complicated cesarean delivery. As a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, I was called in by her obstetrician for difficult cases like hers.
She was carrying twins and had been in the hospital for a week. The night before the delivery, she’d had a very rough time. To help get through it, she’d watched “The Sound of Music” on TV.
The next day, in the delivery room, I delivered her babies by cesarean, fraternal twins, one boy, one girl. As I sent the babies off to the nursery, I noticed that her ovaries were very large and purple and asked if she’d been on fertility drugs. She hadn’t been but I called in two more specialists to consult and chatted with her as we reviewed the situation. Despite their enormous size and color, the ovaries did not pose a threat to her health and I decided to leave them where they were and just watch the situation.
We got to know each other better as I visited each day. When she mentioned the movie she’d seen the night before the delivery, I told her that it was one of my favorites and that I’d copied Maria’s wedding veil for my own wedding. After she and her babies went home, we stayed in touch and I sent her a copy of my first memoir, THE DITCHDIGGER’S DAUGHTERS.
Just last week, those twin babies turned 16 and my patient sent me some photographs of them looking all grown up. It brightened up my day to see them, and to know that I had a hand in bringing them into the world. She also spoke of how she loved my book. So I can’t wait until my new memoir, SOMETHING TO PROVE, is published this fall. She’s going to be one of the first people I send a copy to.
- Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH
A lovely letter from a reader – and a reminder of why I’ve shared my life story
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009I still hear from readers who were inspired by my first memoir, The Ditchdigger’s Daughters, although it was originally published almost 15 years ago.
The latest to come to me via email really touched me. It’s from Mr. Fred Belknap, whose lovely words make me think that he appreciates the values that my father instilled in his children in almost the same way I do:
- What an example this can be for our children relative to today, in that many think everything should be handed to them and meeting goals and beating the odds is a birth right. It seems your father did a special job to prepare you and your sisters for this world though perhaps his message was questioned at times as a result of his methods. Even though his vision, now a reality through his daughters, speaks to the strength of having a plan and carrying it through.
- Thank you for sharing your experiences and I pray the many messages engraved within them are seen by the upcoming generation.
Thank you Mr. Belknap. Your kinds words have made my day, week and month.
And a big thanks to all those who have read The Ditchdigger’s Daughters and taken its lessons to heart. I hope you’ll all continue the journey with me and read Something to Prove, my next memoir, which picks up where The Ditchdigger’s Daughters left off. It’s scheduled to be published by Kaplan Publishing in Fall 2010.
- Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH
A reader “adopts” my father
Friday, September 11th, 2009I recently heard from a reader of The Ditchdigger’s Daughters, named Sheila. Like so many who have sought me out over the years, Sheila had words of admiration for my father. But for her, my book about how my blue collar laborer, high school dropout father instilled the importance of an education is his daughters provided an especially poignant inspiration:
I grew up in the projects and never had a father. I purchased your book and Donald Thornton became my father. Whenever I wanted to give up or thought I was not smart enough I would remember his stern words and teachings. Your dad is the father every little black girl in America needs. I am soon to finish my Bachelors Degree in Nursing and going for a Ph.D.
It’s letters like this that keep me going through the tough times, knowing I’ve made a difference in the lives of others by sharing my story.
And that’s why I wish I didn’t have to wait to announce some major, and very exciting news. I hope you will bear with me for a little while longer. That announcement should be coming very soon.
- Yvonne Thornton, MD, MPH
Should schools provide voluntary testing for STDs?
Friday, August 7th, 2009Yesterday, I was on Dr. Nancy’s noontime show on MSNBC, as one of two medical expert guests, to discuss whether schools should be permitted to offer voluntary testing for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) to their students.
As you’ll see from the video, we three physicians (who are also all mothers) — Dr. Nancy, myself, and a doctor from the Medical Institute for Sexual Health in Austin, Texas — agreed that this is a no-brainer. Of course, we should allow schools to offer voluntary testing for STDs.
Why should we test? Because, in a pilot program at eight high schools in the Washington, D.C. area, 13 percent of the teens who took advantage of voluntary testing were found to be infected, most often with chlamydia and gonorrhea. Chlamydia often causes no symptoms but, if left untreated, can lead to chronic pelvic pain due to pelvic inflammatory disease, an increase in ectopic (abnormal) pregnancy and infertility. Only by testing can we be certain to discover and treat it.
This does not mean we want our teens to be intimate at such a young age. But we must face the fact that, despite our best efforts, some are becoming intimate. And, because of this, some teens face the risk of sexually transmitted diseases that, if left untreated, can cause lifelong damage.
No one would be forced to get a test and no one is suggesting anything but that we make the tests available to kids who wish to know whether they’ve been exposed. If they fear that they are infected, we must give them a way to find out for sure so that they can get treatment.
- Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH
Another letter from a reader of The Ditchdigger’s Daughters
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009It always moves me to hear from readers that my book inspired them. But I’m amazed that I’m still getting such letters, 14 years after The Ditchdigger’s Daughters was first published.
Here are a few excerpts from what a young nursing/pre-med student named Maria, who said that my book changed her life, wrote me:
“I read your book last summer The Ditchdigger’s Daughters and I have wanted to email you for so long but I have been so busy with school full-time and working part-time. But I really want you to know that I admire you so much. My dream is to become a pediatrician, take care of children, and to encourage them, especially young girls, that they can become whatever they want, to never give up, have faith in God, and believe in themselves. I have three sisters and three brothers and my parents have really sacrificed a lot to make sure we could all go to college. Financially it has been difficult and for a while I even contemplated not going to med school because it was so costly …
“I will be graduating with honors and then enroll at The College of William & Mary to finish my pre-med courses… I love to read and I am truly blessed to have come upon your book.”
Hearing from people like Maria is especially gratifying because I know how difficult it is to keep such a dream in sight when money is tight.
I’ve heard from so many readers over the years. I can’t tell you what it means, knowing that my book helped someone get through difficult moments. What I can say to Maria and others is, I’ve been there. I know it’s tough. Keep going. You’ll make it. And when you do, you’ll inspire others.
- Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH
A blast from my past
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009Those who read my first book, The Ditchdigger’s Daughters, know that my parents, a blue-collar laborer and a domestic, valued education above all. They knew it was the way to a better life for their daughters.
But how did they find the money to put five girls through college, with four of us going on to get advanced degrees in medicine, dentistry and law?
We spent our weekends touring as The Thornton Sisters, playing for college dances, appearing at the Apollo, and recording records.
I’m writing the above because I just discovered that, 44 years after we recorded it, an old Thornton Sisters record is playing on YouTube. Who would have thought it?
- Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH
For my father, Donald Thornton, on Father’s Day
Friday, June 19th, 2009Dear Daddy,
You know how much I relied on your guidance as I was growing up. But I wonder what you’d think if you knew that, even now, more than 26 years after we lost you to a stroke on a snowy February day, your wisdom still guides me.
I know you regretted dropping out of school as a young man and, although you seemed content to work 16 hours a day, it must have hurt not to have the opportunity to better yourself.
I know you wanted better for us, your children.
We may have grumbled when we were kids because you demanded so much. You insisted we get the highest grades in our classes. An A wasn’t good enough for you. You expected every grade to be an A+. We had to reach so high that nobody could yank us back down.
People laughed when you told them your five girls were going to grow up to be doctors. Impossible, they said.
And yet, as the first African-American woman to be board-certified in maternal-fetal medicine (high-risk obstetrics), I’m living proof that your dreams weren’t impossible after all.
Your dreams and your demands for us to do our best are the reasons why, among your five daughters, two are now physicians, one, an oral surgeon and another grew up to be a lawyer.
But I owe you for more than my career in medicine, Daddy. There isn’t a problem that I come across in life where I don’t ask myself, what would Daddy do? There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of you. There will never be a time when I will stop missing you.
Even though, I know, you’re very much with me. Even now. Happy Father’s Day.
- Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH