Chasing My Cure: A Doctor's Race to Turn Hope into Action

Chasing My Cure: A Doctor's Race to Turn Hope into ActionThe powerful memoir of a young doctor and former college athlete diagnosed with a rare disease who spearheaded the search for a cureand became a champion for a new approach to medical research. An extraordinary memoir . . . It belongs with Atul Gawande's writings and When Breath Becomes Air. Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals David Fajgenbaum was a former Georgetown quarterback nicknamed the Beast in medical school, where he

The powerful memoir of a young doctor and former college athlete diagnosed with a rare disease who spearheaded the search for a cureand became a champion for a new approach to medical research.

An extraordinary memoir . . . It belongs with Atul Gawande's writings and When Breath Becomes Air.Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals

David Fajgenbaum was a former Georgetown quarterback nicknamed the Beast in medical school, where he was also known for his unmatched mental stamina. But things changed dramatically when he began suffering from inexplicable fatigue. In a matter of weeks, his organs were failing and he was read his last rites. Doctors were baffled by his condition, which they had yet to even diagnose. Floating in and out of consciousness, Fajgenbaum prayed for the equivalent of a game day overtime: a second chance.

Miraculously, Fajgenbaum survivedonly to endure repeated near-death relapses from what would eventually be identified as a form of Castleman disease, an extremely deadly and rare condition that acts like a cross between cancer and an autoimmune disorder. When he relapsed while on the only drug in development and realized that the medical community was unlikely to make progress in time to save his life, Fajgenbaum turned his desperate hope for a cure into concrete action: Between hospitalizations he studied his own charts and tested his own blood samples, looking for clues that could unlock a new treatment. With the help of family, friends, and mentors, he also reached out to other Castleman disease patients and physicians, and eventually came up with an ambitious plan to crowdsource the most promising research questions and recruit world-class researchers to tackle them. Instead of waiting for the scientific stars to align, he would attempt to align them himself.

More than five years later and now married to his college sweetheart, Fajgenbaum has seen his hard work pay off: A treatment that he identified has induced a tentative remission and his novel approach to collaborative scientific inquiry has become a blueprint for advancing rare disease research. His incredible story demonstrates the potency of hope, and what can happen when the forces of determination, love, family, faith, and serendipity collide.

A page-turning chronicle of living, nearly dying, and discovering what it really means to be invincible in hope.Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit

About the Author:

David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, is a graduate of Georgetown University, the University of Oxford, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Wharton School. An assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the associate director for the Orphan Disease Center, he is cofounder and executive director of the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network, as well as the cofounder of the National Students of Ailing Mothers and Fathers Support Network. Dr. Fajgenbaum has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Forbes 30 Under 30 for healthcare and the RARE Champion of Hope Award for science. He has been profiled by major media outlets such as The New York Times, Forbes, Science, Reader's Digest, and the Today show. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Caitlin, and their daughter, Amelia.

Reviews: