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.

In an extension of his New York Times bestselling book Blindsided, author Richard M. Cohen depicts one year in the lives of five individuals who are living with serious chronic illness and of their families. These “citizens of sickness,” as Cohen calls them, were selected for the diversity of their ages, races, socioeconomic positions, illness types, stages of wellness, and gender. Cohen profiles:
-Denise, a woman with ALS, from suburban Los Angeles, California
-Buzz, a man with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, from Franklin, Indiana
-Sarah, a twenty-seven-year-old woman with Crohn’s disease, from Cleveland, Ohio
-Ben, an eighteen-year-old freshman at Saint Mary’s College of Maryland, with muscular dystrophy
-Larry, a man with bipolar disease, from Cleveland, Georgia
Intimately involved with every aspect of their lives, Cohen formed intense relationships with his subjects, interviewing their families and friends, shadowing them on the job, accompanying them to doctor’s visits, and being available and present for the important moments of daily triumphs and setbacks. Though each individual’s illness wreaks havoc in a different way, there is much common ground to be found in the emotional impact of chronic illness and the need to rise above the disease. Listeners will be carried into the hearts and minds of those who cope with sickness daily and will learn about self-determination, courage in the face of adversity and ignorance, keeping hope alive, and finding strength and peace.