This Year on Symptomatic (2024)
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I started slurring my words a little bit. A gait or a limp started developing. Just intense chest pain. And I remember just having these tiny little pimples. My bones were literally aching. My scalp is tingly and my face feels numb. I noticed lumps and bumps in my neck. I would describe it as like an elephant's neck. I was coughing a lot. I never felt that. Extreme, like, nodules in my leg. Something just didn't feel right.

Uncertainty. I'm not even sure if I could describe it well. It almost just felt like I wasn't living. Isolation. I stopped going to the doctor. I stopped trying to find treatments. Nothing was working. Breakthrough. You couldn't imagine that anyone could be alive and have a mutation in that gene. I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco, host of Symptomatic, a medical mystery podcast.

Every episode, we investigate the medical mysteries behind someone's truly baffling symptoms, revealing how the quest for answers transforms the lives of everyday people. Am I just a person who's sick? Is that all I am? Can I fight this? Can I beat this? It's almost like I was a different person. I'm dying here. Let's try something else. How do I live? Hmm. Hmm.

And this year, Symptomatic is bigger than ever, making connections across the country. We took our show on the road, getting to know some of the most innovative doctors in their fields. Today, we're recording from the 2024 ASCO annual meeting talking about breast cancer. Often patients will say to me, I don't care what happens to my body. I just want to live. Hold on.

I care what happens to your body because in six months, you're going to be really mad at me when you start to be a person again, your whole self. If the first thing you think of when you walk out of the shower is your breast cancer. We featured a doctor turned patient leading groundbreaking disease research, giving millions access to treatment options they never thought possible.

For every patient like Gary, for every patient like Kyla, who's getting ready to go off to college because we discovered a drug to save her life just before she would have passed. And each one of those patients has just led us to say, we are so happy we did this for them, but how many more are there out there? And so Grant and I launched this nonprofit called EveryCure, and we are on a mission to unlock the life-saving potential of every FDA-approved medication to treat every disease that it possibly can.

And we're also catching up with some old friends. Hey, Athena. Hi. So good to see you. Good to see you too, Lauren. I'm so excited to be back here. I can't believe it's been this long. You were our second episode. It was 2022. Yeah, really good to be able to do this follow-up from such a good place. I'm happy to report that I'm in the best health probably of my life.

And we're making some new friends like Jose, who through his unique experiences, leads by example for others facing their own struggles. I volunteered as a counselor for 10 years. And, you know, the kids are always so grateful to the counselors there. But like if these kids are doing it, then why can't I? I'm sure they look at us in reverse, like, oh, they're older, they're living with what I have, they're successful, then I can do it too.

Since launching Symptomatic, we've been thrilled to see how the show resonates so deeply with everyone. We're so proud of the supportive community our audience and doctors have built, and we're excited to see it continue to grow. Join us for all new episodes of Symptomatic, where we delve into the medical unknown and bring light to the mysteries of chronic illness.

My name is Kelly. Athena Gerberini. Zach Dovek. Zach Stoner. Jose Torres. And for 19 years. And for 15 years. For over 12 years. I suffered with a mysterious illness. I struggled with a... I struggled with misdiagnoses. Of a previously undiagnosed disease. With an unknown disease. This is Symptomatic. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get the stories that matter to you.