Wake Up Missing (26 page)

While
Wake Up Missing
is a work of fiction, you'll find lots of real science within the story. Some of the concussion treatments in the book are being used in real hospitals and clinics or being studied as possible treatments. A 2009 study reported that some members of the US military who'd suffered traumatic brain injuries or suffered from post-concussion syndrome improved after receiving hyperbaric oxygen treatments—something that had been used to treat sick divers in the past. Learn more at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2740054/
.
The study has gotten some attention, and this treatment is now being used more often for athletes with concussions.

There's also early research to suggest that the kind of LED light therapy used at I-CAN could help real-world patients with concussions. The National Center for Biotechnology Information described the procedure and findings in two case studies:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3104287/
.

What about Cat's time on the treadmill? The State University of New York at Buffalo used a similar program of exercise therapy for athletes recovering from concussions, and so far, it seems to be helping. The exercise-therapy program runs on the same theory Dr. Ames described in
Wake Up Missing
—that exercise may help to “reset” the regulatory system responsible for regulating blood flow to the brain, which can be affected by concussions. You can read more about the research here:
http://www.buffalo.edu/news/10848
.
The UB Concussion Clinic also has a great website with information about concussions and links to video and other media coverage of their work:
http://concussion.buffalo.edu/
.

While I haven't come across any research on gene therapy as a treatment for concussions, it is being studied as a possible treatment for a number of illnesses and conditions including inherited blindness, some cancers, and Parkinson's disease, which the National Institute of Health says affects an estimated half million real Americans, in addition to the fictional Dr. Gunther.

You may want to check out the links below to learn more about the science and history behind
Wake Up Missing
:

As Quentin tells Cat, the idea of getting together a team of brilliant minds to solve a problem isn't a new one. You can read more about the Manhattan Project during World War II here:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/362098/Manhattan-Project
.

The term “a new Manhattan Project” is sometimes used to describe this sort of scientific team effort. Here's a National Public Radio (NPR) story on a more current project, focused on the issues of childhood obesity and nutrition:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/09/19/161444045/billionaires-fund-a-manhattan-project-for-nutrition-and-obesity
.

Would a government ever really do experiments on its citizens without providing them with information and getting consent? History has a precedent for this, too. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum tells the story of Nazi medical experiments on thousands of concentration camp prisoners during World War II:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005168
.

And in the 1930s, the U.S. Public Health Service and the Tuskegee Institute conducted a study on almost four hundred poor black men to try to learn how the disease syphilis affects people.
The researchers told the men they were getting treatment for “bad blood” (a vague phrase used to describe any number of ailments at that time), but they were never told they had syphilis or treated for it. In fact, treatment was withheld from the men, even after it became available, so researchers could learn more about how the disease spreads. NPR did a story called “Remembering Tuskegee” on the anniversary of the day this news broke:
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/jul/tuskegee/
.

While the kind of genetic engineering that happens in
Wake Up Missing
isn't technically possible right now, it's interesting to think about where genetic engineering will go next. Already, there are concerns about gene doping in future Olympics. This feature in
U.S. News
asks the question, could athletes modify their genetic makeup to improve their chances of winning gold?:
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/07/26/could-gene-doping-be-part-of-future-olympics
.

And what else might be on the horizon? A
Nature.com
feature explores the possibility of both gene doping and “designer babies”:

http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/genetic-inequality-human-genetic-engineering-768
.

“Will our kids be a different species?” Juan Enriquez, the founder of the Life Sciences Project at Harvard Business School, gave this TED talk about bioengineering and how it just might lead us to evolve. His ideas on both cloning and “downloading memories” served as inspiration for Trent's story. Find the video at
http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_will_our_kids_be_a_different_species.html
.

How quickly will this high-tech field move in the years to come? Certainly, ethics will play a major role. The United States and United Nations have already created bioethics groups to study these issues and recommend policies to regulate them, so we probably won't see the kinds of projects that happen in this book anytime soon. But the research and advances in technology will likely keep us asking just what it means to be a person, and how far is too far when it comes to building a better human.

Writing
Wake Up Missing
was a process almost as challenging and confusing as Cat's journey to rediscover herself, and I am so very grateful to the people who offered help along the way. The naturalist guides with Everglades Adventure and Ivey House in Everglades City were patient, kind, and informative when I asked more than my share of questions on several guided kayak trips into the swamp, and Tod Dahike at Tour the Glades kindly provided me with information about hiking in the Fakahatchee Strand. Any errors in the book are mine alone.

My critique partners, Loree Griffin Burns, Eric Luper, and Liza Martz, read the earliest draft of this book and offered valuable feedback on my characters and plot twists. Writer friend Linda Urban offered more thoughts, title inspiration, and a couple of long conversations that helped missing pieces settle into place later on. Readers and friends Bethany and Jenna Ward also offered great feedback and encouragement on an early draft.

Thanks to my agent, Jennifer Laughran of the Andrea Brown
Literary Agency, for being the best and smartest advocate a writer could ever want, and to my editor, Mary Kate Castellani, who is kind, smart, and funny, and always knows the right questions to ask to make me a better writer.

Thanks to Sandra Smith, Amanda Hong, Sammy Yuen Jr., Ilana Worrell, Emily Easton, Beth Eller, Linette Kim, Katy Hershberger, and the rest of the Walker/Bloomsbury team for bringing my books into the world.

I'm grateful to my mom and dad, Tom and Gail Schirmer, who have been encouraging me and reading my stories for more than thirty years now. And finally, to my family—Tom, Jake, and Ella—you are the best. Thanks for your support, laughter, and love, always.

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.
Sugar and Ice
Eye of the Storm

Copyright © 2013 by Kate Messner

All rights reserved.
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

First published in the United States of America in September 2013
by Walker Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
E-book edition published in September 2013
www.bloomsbury.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Walker BFYR, 1385 Broadway, New York, New York 10018. Bloomsbury books may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at [email protected]

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Messner, Kate.
Wake up missing / by Kate Messner.
pages cm
[1. Science fiction. 2. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 3. Genetic engineering—Fiction. 4. Friendship—Fiction. 5. Everglades (Fla.)—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M5615Wak 2013     [Fic]—     dc23 2013012021

ISBN: 978-0-8027-3547-8 (e-book)

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