Chasing My Cure

A Doctor's Race to Turn Hope into Action; A Memoir

By: David Fajgenbaum

Narrated by: David Fajgenbaum

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • DAVID FAJGENBAUM NAMED TO THE 2025 TIME100 NEXT LIST

“An extraordinary memoir that belongs with Atul Gawande’s writings and When Breath Becomes Air.”—Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals

When a young doctor is diagnosed with a rare disease, he spearheads the search for a cure—and becomes a champion for a new approach to medical research.

David Fajgenbaum, a former Georgetown quarterback, was 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.

Miraculously, Fajgenbaum survived—only 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. Realizing 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 looked for clues that could unlock a new treatment and reached out to other Castleman disease patients and physicians. 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 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.

Highly recommend!

As a fellow patient of a rare disease I understood what he was going through hoping and wishing for a cure. His triumph at finding one felt like one for all of us. The narration was excellent; it made you feel more connected to the story even if you haven't been through it yourself.

Great book

As a physician I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It definitely helped me think of how I approach my patients and how I could take a more personalized approach to patient care and rethinking treatment paradigms for those cases that don’t respond to the standard approach.

Must read!

Really challenged me to my hopes into action as a doctor and gave me a glance into how the unknown, “know one knows the cure” could be translated back into real tangible hope.

An inspiration for those diagnosed with rare diseases

Especially those of us that share that diagnosis with being a healthcare provider ourselves. Thank you David!

Superb ... a must listen .

The book is narrated by the author which feels like a personal conversation . He is an excellent narrator which presses even more the need for medical research in all diseases .
A non medical person gains insight into the complexities of diagnosis , therapy , and still needed research of rare diseases .
The book is full of heartbreak but hope .