Mother’s loss launches global effort to fight antibiotic resistance
In the years since Mallory's passing, the journal has become a source of solace for Shader Smith as she has traveled the globe speaking about the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. It is also now the inspiration for two new projects she hopes will spark greater understanding of the public health crisis that ended her daughter’s life prematurely and could claim millions more.
4.95 Million People Die From Treatable Infections Annually
A new project, The Global AMR Diary, launched Tuesday. The release is linked to the publication of Diary of a Dying Girl, by Mallory Smith, who died from a superbug infection in 2017. I wrote about Mallory’s story and the need to develop phage therapy to combat AMR two years ago in “Salt in My Soul: Poignant Film Calls Attention To The Need For Phages For Antibiotic Resistance.”
Women trailblazers shaping the future of AMR
Diane’s global platform grew from the success of Mallory’s posthumously published bestselling memoir Salt in My Soul, the documentary of the same name, her second book Diary of a Dying Girl, and The Global AMR Diary, a storytelling initiative Diane created to aggregate the stories global health leaders have been collecting and to influence public policy. By turning personal grief into systemic advocacy, Diane is a trailblazer who has raised millions of dollars for AMR research, pioneered bold and creative awareness strategies, and positioned AMR as a profoundly human story-one that demands urgent global action
My Daughter Died and Left Me Her Diary. This is What She Wanted Us to Know
In Diary of a Dying Girl, all of us get a glimpse into Mallory’s quest to live life to the fullest, even as she was dying. The Sunday Paper sat down with Diane Shader Smith to learn more about her daughter, why she felt passionate about publishing her diary, and the advocacy work her daughter’s health battle inspired her to start doing.
Diary of a Dying Girl: Adapted from Salt in My Soul
A gripping, authentic window into the soul of a young person, this would be a solid addition to any collection.
Stories of people suffering from AMR need to be told
AMR isn’t a sexy topic; it’s complex and hard to grasp, often going unnoticed by the general public. Many people have no idea what AMR is or how it may affect their lives. They think it only affects those with compromised health, like Mallory, who had cystic fibrosis. This is far from the truth.
A Letter from Diane Shader Smith
Salt in My Soul, my daughter Mallory Smith’s posthumously published memoir, captivated a wide audience, from academic institutions like Harvard and Stanford to higher-profile platforms such as the White House and Capitol Hill... Mallory’s senior thesis advisor, Stanford Professor Sue McConnell, was prophetic when she called Mallory one of the best writers she’d seen in her twenty years of teaching.
Putting a face on the 'invisible threat' of AMR
Mallory Smith was a young woman who, in her own words, had "big dreams and big goals."
When she was in high school, she set her sights on going to Stanford. After college, she hoped for a career where she could help people and "move the needle on something that's important." She wanted to write about the world and all its beauty. She wanted a life filled with travel and adventure. She wanted to fall in love.
Diary of a Dying Girl
In this adaptation of her memoir for adults, Smith, who died in 2017, chronicles life with cystic fibrosis from age 16 to 25. Illuminating and heartbreaking.
Her Daughter Died From a Chronic Illness: She's Sharing Her Diary
Shortly after Mallory's death, her grieving mother read the thousands of diary entries in Mallory's computer. Shader Smith would posthumously publish the entries as "Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life" in 2019 and the not-yet-released "Diary of a Dying Girl" on May 7.
"[Finding the entries] was really devastating," Shader Smith says. The more she read, the more she realized that her daughter was suffering as much as she was living. The brave face Mallory put on, adopting the mantra "live happy," was just one side of her lived experience. These entries were the space where she told it all — as Mallory wrote, "the letdowns, the uncertainties, the anxieties, the loneliness."