Press

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a slow-moving train that is picking up steam and in its path are all patients battling bacterial infections. AMR is a multifactorial problem that includes many aspects, and potentially chief among them is the missing communication and disconnect with the public, who do not understand the nature of how it happens nor the consequences of the misuse of antibiotics.

Mallory’s mother, Diane Shader Smith, is telling her daughter’s story to the world. She wants people to know about Mallory and about the threat of antimicrobial resistance. She’s also collecting the stories of other people who have been made victims of this growing threat to humanity because she understands the difference stories make in ensuring people understand the gravity of antimicrobial resistance.

After Diane Shader Smith lost her daughter, Mallory, to a multidrug resistant infection, she turned her personal tragedy into a mission designed to inform people about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and have the public coalesce around this expanding medical issue.

This moving, heartfelt YA adaptation of Smith’s adult memoir, Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life, is based on diary entries Smith kept from age 16 until her death at 25 from cystic fibrosis, an often invisible disease. In middle school, she contracted Burkholderia cenocepacia (B. cepacia), a deadly bacteria known to infect those with cystic fibrosis.

The story of Mallory Smith is one poignant example of the impact of AMR on individuals and families. Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of three, Mallory’s life became entwined with the complications posed by the deadly bacteria Burkholderia cepacia, leading to numerous health challenges and hospitalizations.