The Man Who Wouldn't Die: A Doctor's Battle with a Deadly Disease
9 hrs. 45 min.
Language
Russian
Author
Feigenbaum David
Author
Feigenbaum David
Narrator
Alexey Bagdasarov
Narrator
Alexey Bagdasarov
Description
“A story of a person who found a new approach to treating his condition—and helped not only himself, but others too.
At medical school, David Feinbaum was nicknamed “the Beast”—he was an athlete and was known for exceptional intellectual stamina. Then everything changed at once: an inexplicable fatigue began to torment him, and within weeks his organs started to fail. Doctors were baffled and couldn’t arrive at a diagnosis. When he regained consciousness, David prayed for a second chance. It felt like a dramatic struggle for overtime in football.
A miracle happened. David survived—but only to experience relapses again and again and to stand on the edge of death. As it turned out, he had one of the rare and extremely severe forms of Castleman’s disease—something between cancer and an autoimmune condition. And when, despite receiving the single medicine being developed at that time to treat this disease, David suffered another relapse, he understood that at that pace medicine was unlikely to save his life. That is why he turned desperate hope for healing into concrete action. Between hospitalizations, he analyzed his medical history and blood samples to find a new approach to treatment. With the help of family, friends, and mentors, he contacted other doctors and patients who had faced Castleman’s disease, and in the end developed an ambitious plan—to compile together a list of the most promising scientific problems and bring in researchers of the highest level to solve them. Instead of waiting for stars to align in science, he decided to build the stars himself.
More than five years have passed since then. Dr. Feinbaum married the girl he loved since his student days and saw the fruits of his hard work. The treatment he found helps him stay in remission, and his innovative approach to organizing scientific research has become a model in rare disease research. Today, Dr. Feinbaum and his lab are expanding their approach to other diseases, including COVID-19.
This incredible story shows what can happen when determination, love, family, faith, and a happy accident come together.
One of the best nonfiction books of 2019 according to Next Big Ideas Club.
At medical school, David Feinbaum was nicknamed “the Beast”—he was an athlete and was known for exceptional intellectual stamina. Then everything changed at once: an inexplicable fatigue began to torment him, and within weeks his organs started to fail. Doctors were baffled and couldn’t arrive at a diagnosis. When he regained consciousness, David prayed for a second chance. It felt like a dramatic struggle for overtime in football.
A miracle happened. David survived—but only to experience relapses again and again and to stand on the edge of death. As it turned out, he had one of the rare and extremely severe forms of Castleman’s disease—something between cancer and an autoimmune condition. And when, despite receiving the single medicine being developed at that time to treat this disease, David suffered another relapse, he understood that at that pace medicine was unlikely to save his life. That is why he turned desperate hope for healing into concrete action. Between hospitalizations, he analyzed his medical history and blood samples to find a new approach to treatment. With the help of family, friends, and mentors, he contacted other doctors and patients who had faced Castleman’s disease, and in the end developed an ambitious plan—to compile together a list of the most promising scientific problems and bring in researchers of the highest level to solve them. Instead of waiting for stars to align in science, he decided to build the stars himself.
More than five years have passed since then. Dr. Feinbaum married the girl he loved since his student days and saw the fruits of his hard work. The treatment he found helps him stay in remission, and his innovative approach to organizing scientific research has become a model in rare disease research. Today, Dr. Feinbaum and his lab are expanding their approach to other diseases, including COVID-19.
This incredible story shows what can happen when determination, love, family, faith, and a happy accident come together.
One of the best nonfiction books of 2019 according to Next Big Ideas Club.
