CANCER IN MY FAMILY

In it, two threads are deftly woven together: a riveting medical detective story, featuring two immigrant physicians and a diverse cast of likeminded pioneers who challenged conventional wisdom and labored for decades to realize one of the most significant breakthroughs in the history of science and genetics; and a tragic personal odyssey that parallels it – the story of Larry’s family and an inescapable fatal destiny that the progress of science could not catch.  

The narrative revealed in A CANCER IN MY FAMILY illuminates some of the biggest medical research and revelations of our era, featuring fields and discoveries of interest to anyone who has ever confronted fates of health or genetics, cancer, and the hidden switches within us – like BRCA genes and others – that we have come to name through painstaking work and painful necessity. It is a profound perspective on the heroes behind the endeavors of public health and epidemiology, and an enduring reminder of what they race against – and whom they race for – often in anonymity.  

And above all, this is the story of family – the author’s and others – and of what families, so often quietly and painfully and unfairly, have to endure to survive; a story of the uneven price we collectively pay for the prospect of tomorrow.  

A CANCER IN MY FAMILY is a story with themes that will resonate with readers of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, When Breath Becomes Air, Hidden Valley Road, and the works of Atul Gawande and Siddhartha Mukherjee.