Chasing Hope: A Patient's Deep Dive into Stem Cells, Faith, and the Future

by Richard M. Cohen Narrated by Steven Jay Cohen, Richard M. Cohen, Meredith Viera

Overview

After more than four decades living with multiple sclerosis, New York Times bestselling author Richard M. Cohen finds a flicker of hope in a groundbreaking medical procedure.

Richard Cohen struggles with failing limbs and is legally blind. He has survived two bouts of colon cancer and a life-threatening blood clot in his lungs. After enduring decades of harsh treatments and invasive therapies, Cohen decided to trade in his life as a patient.

In 2012, Cohen and his wife, Meredith Vieira, were invited to host and chair an adult stem cell conference at the Vatican. Scientists would be gathering in Rome to discuss stem cell therapy for autoimmune diseases, including MS. A believer in the power of denial and determination over faith and hope, Cohen was caught off guard by what he learned. Medical technology had advanced further and more quickly than Cohen had known. Could there be a chance his health could improve? Could MS be cured? As Cohen took part in a pioneering stem cell protocol, he opened himself to the possibility of hope for the first time in his adult life.

Cohen's deep dive into the cutting-edge world of stem cell research and his journalistic investigation of hope includes interviews with doctors, scientists, and religious leaders, as well as conversations with others living with chronic conditions, all with the goal of understanding a hope that is both elusive and alluring.

As drily funny as it is emotionally vulnerable, Chasing Hope navigates the fascinating and ever-changing intersection between illness and hope.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

03/12/2018
Former TV news producer Cohen charts his search for hope in a light but generally tepid medical memoir. Diagnosed with MS in 1973 at age 25, Cohen realized that his coping mechanisms of denial and withdrawal (which he discussed in his memoir Blindsided) resulted in isolation, frustration, and family rancor. “I had to find a way to rise above the daily grind of illness,” he writes. While hosting a stem cell conference in 2012, he began to entertain hope for a healthier future, despite having undergone “almost forty years of fruitless treatments.” A funny, straightforward narrator (“That doctor had the people skills of a prison guard, minus the charm”), Cohen pursues hope as an intellectual inquiry, interviewing scientists, people who have experienced loss, and diverse religious thinkers. The relationship between hope and faith is an intriguing one, but Cohen dedicates a disproportionate amount of time to it while giving short shrift to themes of regaining lost hope, and how doctors can foster hope in patients. Cohen describes his own stem cell treatment and life-threatening blood clot; however, readers get little sense of how hope helps him deal with these new medical issues. Cohen’s journey is entertaining, but it lacks substance. (May)

From the Publisher

“Chasing Hope is moving and powerful, so brutally honest about the daily hardships of living with a terrible disease, yet finding ways to take pleasure in family, friends and writing. What an inspirational guide this story will be for people suffering from illness and those who love them.”
—Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals and Wait Till Next Year

“My dad has MS. What a perfect time and perfect author for this book!”
—Amy Schumer, author of The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo

"I am so inspired by Richard Cohen's story and the stories of resilience and faith in Chasing Hope. Richard reminds us that in life we all carry a bag of rocks, and that hope—even a glimmer—can help us shoulder the heaviest loads.”
—Ann Romney, author of In This Together

“A profound exploration of science and spirit as the underpinnings of true hope …. This clear-eyed narrative will inspire and illuminate all those seeking hope in the midst of illness.”
—Jerome Groopman, M.D., Recanati Professor, Harvard Medical School and author of How Doctors Think and The Anatomy of Hope

“An unforgettable book, thanks to gifted writing, first-rate reporting, and painful experience. Over time, MS has robbed Richard Cohen of most of his eyesight and mobility, but not his inner vision or mobility of spirit.”
—Charles Osgood, author of See You on the Radio

Kirkus Reviews

2018-02-20
A longtime multiple sclerosis patient seeks the meaning of hope.For four decades, award-winning journalist Cohen (Strong at the Broken Places: Voices of Illness, a Chorus of Hope, 2008, etc.) has lived with multiple sclerosis, a condition shared by his father and grandmother that has left him legally blind and with impaired movement. Through the years, the author has found many ways to cope with his condition (not to mention with two bouts of cancer), but he rarely thought of himself as having "hope." An invitation to participate in stem cell research changed that. Throughout the book, Cohen touches on a variety of important themes, including how to live with chronic health conditions and the advancement of genetic treatments for such conditions. However, it is mainly a retelling of his own story, a means for catharsis. The author interviewed his children about their memories of him during their childhoods, during which he was prone to intense anger. The lack of any meaningful treatments for MS, as well as the lack of caring physicians, left Cohen with little to anticipate aside from a slowly degrading body. Meeting Dr. Saud Sadiq, however, forced him to look at his future anew. A pioneer in stem cell research for MS and a physician intensely committed to his patients, Sadiq allowed Cohen to experience not only hope for his own condition, but also encouragement that his suffering had not been in vain, that his treatment might lead the way to help for others. A committed nonbeliever, Cohen makes it clear that while many find hope in God—in one form or another—he does not. "For me, belief in the power of hope is linked to belief in the self." Moreover, ties of family and friendship give people the very reason to hope. "Hope is a gift from us to us," writes the author.A clear and concise memoir of introspection, though Cohen's journalistic approach may not provide abundant hope for readers.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171879204
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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Chapter 1
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Excerpted from "Chasing Hope"
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Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
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