The Puzzle Solver
A Scientist's Desperate Quest to Cure the Illness that Stole His Son
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- ¥2,200
発行者による作品情報
A Father, His Son, and an Unrelenting Quest for a Cure
At the age of twenty-seven, Whitney Dafoe was forced to give up his life as a photographer who traveled the world. Bit by bit a mysterious illness stole away the pieces of his life: First, it took the strength of his legs, then his voice, and his ability to eat. Finally, even the sound of a footstep in his room became unbearable. The Puzzle Solver follows several years in which he desperately sought answers from specialist after specialist, where at one point his 6'3" frame dropped to 115 lbs. For years, he underwent endless medical tests, but doctors told him there was nothing wrong. Then, finally, a diagnosis: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis.
In the 80s, when an outbreak of people immobilized by an indescribable fatigue were reported near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, doctors were at a loss to explain the symptoms. The condition would alternatively be nicknamed Raggedy Ann Syndrome or the Yuppie Disease, and there was no cure or answers about treatment. They were to remain sick.
But there was one answer: Whitney's father, Ron Davis, PhD, a world-class geneticist at Stanford University whose legendary research helped crack the code of DNA, suddenly changed the course of his career in a race against time to cure his son's debilitating condition.
In The Puzzle Solver, journalist Tracie White, who first wrote a viral and award-winning piece on Davis and his family in Stanford Medicine, tells his story. In gripping prose, she masterfully takes readers along on this journey with Davis to solve one of the greatest mysteries in medicine. In a piercing investigative narrative, closed doors are opened, and masked truths are exposed as Davis uncovers new proof confirming that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a biological disease.
At the heart of this book is a moving story that goes far beyond medicine, this is a story about how the power of love -- and science -- can shine light in even the darkest, most hidden, corners of the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist White debuts with a moving look at "legendary Stanford University scientist" Davis and his fight to cure his son's chronic fatigue syndrome. After having "gained a reputation as the go-to writer for tragic stories," White was assigned a piece on Davis and his son Whitney Dafoe, a 31-year-old former artist who was so ill that he couldn't eat or speak. White explains how misunderstood chronic fatigue is: in the mid-1980s, several hundred cases were reported near Lake Tahoe, which brought "the nation's attention to what would become known as ME/CFS," but with few answers, the disease came to be known by many as "yuppie flu." While there is still no known cause or treatments, White writes, Davis has dedicated himself to researching the illness; using prize money from an award, he set up an ME/CFS lab and in 2015 released a report that led to a "shift within the mainstream scientific community" toward understanding chronic fatigue as a real, biological disease. The author's keen commitment to capturing Dafoe's illness and Davis's work makes for a story of heartbreak balanced with unexpected beauty. White succeeds in casting chronic fatigue syndrome in a new light in this inspirational account.
