Secret Lives: Pages of Healing
Deepa Halaharvi, DO, breast surgeon with OhioHealth, has spent years helping patients navigate some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. As a breast cancer survivor herself, she’s often the one people look to for answers and strength. But when she lost her mother last year, Dr. Halaharvi found herself reaching for something she hadn’t relied on before: writing.
Her memoir, “Their Legacy, Their Light She Carries” is not a medical book, but a love letter to her parents. And to the values they instilled that carried her from caregiver to physician.
“My mom passed away last October. It was really tough to process the grief,” Dr. Halaharvi said. “My dad passed away 10 years prior to that. I wanted to write stories about my parents for my kids, a place where they could go and see where their family came from. But then as I was writing, it became therapeutic.”
Born in India, Dr. Halaharvi immigrated to the U.S. at age 16 with her family. Her parents, a nurse and an electrical engineer, raised their children on a foundation of hard work and service. “Whatever you do, do it well,” her father always told her. That stayed with her through years of caring for him after he was paralyzed by a stroke, while her mother juggled caregiving, work and her own declining health.
“My mom took care of my dad for 16 years. But like so many women, she didn’t take care of herself,” Dr. Halaharvi said. “And it caught up with her.”
What started as a collection of memories turned into a memoir about carrying forward the light passed down from those we’ve loved and lost. “It’s about what we do between the time we’re born and the time we die,” she said. “Writing it all out means that they're still living through this.”
The book is also a tribute to immigrant families, especially women, who navigate new systems while shaping the futures of their children. And it’s a resource, too, for medical professionals, caregivers and patients trying to make sense of the intersection between illness, family and healing.
To further honor her parents, Dr. Halaharvi has launched a nonprofit in their names, Ish and Savi, which will provide educational scholarships for underserved communities. She also hosts “The Breast Cancer Podcast,” downloaded in over 130 countries, and is organizing an empowerment event in November called “She Rise, We Rise Together,” for an evening of celebration and a survivor-led fashion show.
All of it, she says, is part of the same purpose: “to educate, to empower and to serve.”
“Writing doesn’t come naturally to most doctors,” she said. “I had to block time at 4:30 a.m., send chapters to my editor, rewrite. But now that it’s done, I look at the book and think: this is what it means to carry the light. We all carry that light, whether it's from your parents, from your mentors, from your experiences. We can use that light to help others and leave a legacy.”
“Their Legacy, Their Light She Carries: A Breast Surgeon’s Mission to Serve and Inspire Hope” is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
Secret Lives is an ongoing series that shares the unusual past careers and unique hobbies of OhioHealth associates, physicians and volunteers.
