Book Review of
Be Patient

Lynn's Review

Be Patient by Tilly Rose is a memoir that was published in 2025.

It’s about being a patient and navigating the medical system in England. It is about being a zebra in a world full of horses. 

Have you heard the saying in the medical world that when you see hoof prints, think horses, not zebras? It encourages medical professionals to look for and rule out the common things before looking for the rare things. 

The trouble with that is there are a lot of rare things in the medical world. That means there are a lot of zebras in the medical world. Tilly Rose is one of them. So am I. 

I am struggling to put into words what I felt reading this book. On Instagram, I simply wrote, thank you Tilly Rose for sharing your story so that people like me and families like mine feel less alone. 

Tilly’s condition is far worse than anything I have dealt with, but there is still so much of her story that I can relate to. It is so discouraging to see doctor after doctor and get test after test done, without getting any answers. 

You never want to hear, well, this is an interesting case. You never want to be the patient with a condition that no one has ever seen. 

A few months ago,o I had a doctor tell me that I am the first patient he has ever seen with this problem. It isn’t that the problem doesn’t exist; it is just so rare that very few doctors have ever encountered it. 

Being that patient, or the family of the patient, is hard. 

Tilly understands. By sharing her story, those of us who are zebras in the medical world know that we are not alone. Other people understand. 

This book was also a reminder that although the United States medical system is full of problems, it is nothing compared to the medical system in England and other parts of the world. 

Yes, the medical system in the U.S. can be challenging and expensive, but we still have a better medical system than the vast majority of the world. 

This book made me thankful for the doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals in the world who truly do care about their patients.