Ain't Got TIme to Die

Agents, publishers, how do you handle a manuscript about a baby girl diagnosed with trisomy 13, a baby girl born with a heart on the right side of her body, a baby girl sent home to die, but turns eighteen years old this year? When she reached three months old, turning blue in the face from another bout of halted breathing, a nurse’s recommendation—“put her in hospice, she’ll get morphine to make her comfortable,”—catapulted the mother to rescue-mode.

That’s Aminah’s story, and her tireless mother, Pamela Ferrell, is the author. Ferrell is a professional natural hairstylist with clients in film and media. She owns and operates Cornrows and Company in Washington, D.C., while helping Aminah navigate the effects of trisomy 13, also called Patau syndrome. Instead of telling a story of fatality and despair, Ferrell writes about her life with Aminah to empower families with disabled enfants, particularly those with trisomy 13. Without malice or revenge, stories in Ferrell’s manuscript give lessons on how to navigate a medical system that sends babies home to die comfortably.

Agents, publishers, Ferrell welcomes your interest in a manuscript that’s 50 percent complete.