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	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
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Memoirs

CHASING MY CURE

David Fajgenbaum

A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope into Action

A Memoir of Medicine, Overwhelming Odds, and a Race Against Time will chronicle David’s battle against Castleman disease – both personally, and on the systemic level. In the vein of Paul Kalanithi and Oliver Sacks, he will explore the inherent dissonance created when a doctor becomes a patient. And like Atul Gawande, he truly has the power to change healthcare. David is fighting to ensure that no patient – and no disease – is overlooked.

David Fajgenbaum was in his third year of medical school, attending rounds and reviewing patients’ charts, when he began sneaking away to take naps in empty hospital rooms. It wasn’t burnout – a former football quarterback at Georgetown University and workout obsessive, his nickname was the Beast. Roles had reversed, but he was too weak to interpret his own puzzling symptoms. After visiting the ER, doctors quickly determined that his key organs were failing, yet none of them knew why. David would go to the brink of death and back before tests revealed that he suffered from an “orphan disease.” However, unlike ALS or cystic fibrosis, very few doctors had even heard of Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman disease, let alone knew how to treat it. What began as a nearly certain death sentence has since become David’s life mission. Four relapses later, due to his unyielding quest for understanding, the mystery of the disease has finally begun to unravel. Castleman may still be orphaned, but it now has a coordinated network of expert physicians and research clinicians working to make sure it will no longer stump doctors, suffer from lack of funding, or leave patients without hope. Dr. David Fajgenbaum is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Translational Medicine & Human Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania, the Associate Director of patient impact for the Penn Orphan Disease Center, and the Co-founder & Executive Director of the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network. He has been recognized with multiple awards, including 2015 Forbes 30 under 30 Healthcare list, 2015 Rare Champion of Hope Science Award, and was elected as the youngest ever Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the oldest medical society in the US. David has been profiled by The New York Times and featured in Science magazine. He also has an MBA from The Wharton School, an MSc in Public Health from the University of Oxford, and a BS from Georgetown University. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife.

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Book Published 2019-09-10 by Ballantine

Comments

Dr. Fajgenbaum tells his own remarkable story of fighting a mysterious, nearly fatal multisystem disease, and of his brilliant deduction that a long-known drug may be the cure. This book - part detective story, part love story, part scientific quest - shows how one indefatigable physician can bring hope to patients who suffer from a rare disease.

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This is a remarkable and gripping story. Dr. Fajgenbaum's description of his journey is a tale of courage, dedication, and brilliance that will enthrall and fascinate its readers.

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Brazil: R.Ed ; Chinese: PMPH ; Korea: Thenan ; Poland: Filia; Russia: Mann, Ivanov & Ferber ; Romania: Publica

Moving... A powerful, highly personal chronicle of a doctor's feverish rush to find a cure for the disease that afflicts him... Offering a distinctively uncommon perspective on disease and doctoring, Fajgenbaum also writes earnestly and frankly about the unique brand of humility one must accept as a medicinal healer with a mysterious, possibly deadly malady.

This is a fascinating true-life story of a young doctor, stricken with a rare, life-threatening disease, who takes matters into his own hands and, with total focus, finds a cure... An informative and inspiring read.

Chasing My Cure is an extremely powerful story about turning fear into faith, and hope into action. David Fajgenbaum's ferocious will to survive and his leadership in the face of his rare disease provides a model pathway for others searching for cures of their own to follow.

A page-turning chronicle of living, nearly dying, and discovering what it really means to be invincible in hope.

An extraordinary memoir... It belongs with Atul Gawande's writings and When Breath Becomes Air.

Chasing My Cure is the riveting story of Dr. Fajgenbaum's remarkable journey persevering through illness to medical discoveries and recovery. It is also a tribute to his rare spirit and intellect, the support of his family and friends, the power of modern science, and the role that patients can play to find new treatments.

[A] remarkable memoir... Fajgenbaum writes lucidly and movingly... Fajgenbaum's stirring account of his illness will inspire readers.

I was riveted from the very first to the very last page of this extraordinary story of life, assumed death, resilience, and hope. I am convinced that through his incredible journey, David Fajgenbaum has acquired 'superpowers' that will no doubt shape the lives of others.

Fajgenbaum, the doctor-turned-patient, chronicles the many challenges of coping with a complex disease and his quest for a cure... He highlights the inestimable importance of willpower, hope, and the support of family and friends as he recounts how serious illness can mutate any previous perception of normal life.