David Fajenbaum was, by his own admission, an ordinary kid. He wasn’t especially talented academically or athletically, but he did have an almost autistic-like hyper focus which allowed him to spend hours watching game films after his football teammates had already gone home. It allowed him to power through study sessions when other friends had wandered off to watch TV.
It was this hyper focus that allowed Fajenbaum to play football at a Division I school, despite a broken leg his senior year in high school. It was his hyper focus that he relied on when his long-time girlfriend said she didn’t feel like he was making her a priority, and they should take a break. “Fine,” he said. “We’ve got lots of time.”
But as this young med student pressed into his studies and gym workouts, he experienced an unexplainable fatigue, enlarged nodes, and blood moles. What was this? Fajenbaum’s organs began to shut down and doctors could not identify the problem. In the ICU on the brink of death Fajgenbaum insisted on a test for cancer. When the nurse came back with the results of no cancer, but something called Castleman Disease, she thought she was bringing good news. Not so.
What could Fajgenbaum, a young doctor, do stop his body from succumbing to this little known disease? Could he find a cure in time to save himself?
This is a true medical thriller, being played out in real time for some Castleman patients. Find out what happened to Fajgenbaum, and if there is any hope for others diagnosed with Castleman disease.
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