在與一種致命疾病作斗爭時(shí)，這位醫(yī)生找到了自己的療法

While battling a deadly disease, this doctor found his own cure

在與一種致命疾病作斗爭時(shí)，這位醫(yī)生找到了自己的療法

When David Fajgenbaum was in medical school, he was diagnosed with a rare and potentially deadly disease of the lymph nodes. There were very few treatments available and no cure. So, he had to take matters into his own hands.

當(dāng)大衛(wèi)·法吉根鮑姆在醫(yī)學(xué)院讀書時(shí)，他被診斷出患有一種罕見的、潛在致命的淋巴結(jié)疾病。治療方法很少，也沒有治愈方法。所以，他不得不自己動(dòng)手。

“There were no promising leads, no drugs in development, and very little research being done,” he says.

他說：“當(dāng)時(shí)沒有任何有希望的線索，也沒有開發(fā)藥物，而且?guī)缀鯖]有做什么研究。”

Over 3 1/2 years, Fajgenbaum worked directly with various specialists, using his own medical knowledge to find an effective treatment. He details his dramatic journey in the new memoir, “Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope Into Action” (Ballantine, out Tuesday).

在3年半的時(shí)間里，法吉根鮑姆直接與各種專家合作，利用自己的醫(yī)學(xué)知識(shí)尋找有效的治療方法。他在新的回憶錄《追尋我的治愈之道：醫(yī)生將希望轉(zhuǎn)化為行動(dòng)》中詳細(xì)描述了自己戲劇性的旅程。

“I was studying everything I could find, searching for a drug that could help save my life,” he says.

他說:“我研究我能找到的一切，尋找一種可以拯救我生命的藥物。”

In 2010, Fajgenbaum was a strapping 25-year-old, third-year med student at the University of Pennsylvania and a former college football player when he suddenly fell ill.

2010年，法吉根鮑姆是賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)的一名25歲的醫(yī)學(xué)三年級學(xué)生，曾是一名大學(xué)生足球運(yùn)動(dòng)員，然而卻突然病倒了。

“I took a school exam and then walked myself to the ER,” Fajgenbaum, now 34 and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, tells The Post. “They told me my kidneys, liver, and bone marrow were shutting down. My immune system was attacking my vital organs.”

現(xiàn)年34歲、賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)助理教授法吉根鮑姆，在接受《郵報(bào)》采訪時(shí)說：“我參加了一次學(xué)?？荚?，然后走到急診室。他們告訴我，我的腎臟、肝臟和骨髓都在衰竭。我的免疫系統(tǒng)正在攻擊我的重要器官。”

They couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong with him, although they suspected it was lymphoma. He spent seven weeks in the hospital, being treated with steroids.

雖然醫(yī)生懷疑是淋巴瘤，但他們也不太清楚他到底出了什么問題。他在醫(yī)院住了7周，接受類固醇治療。

Then, four weeks after being released, he relapsed and ended up back in the hospital. It was then that he found he had idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease, a rare and potentially deadly illness that only 5,000 people in the US are diagnosed with each year. Doctors tried the one drug used to treat it, but it proved ineffective.

然后，在出院四周后，他又復(fù)發(fā)了，最終回到了醫(yī)院。就在那時(shí)，他發(fā)現(xiàn)自己患上了特發(fā)性多中心卡斯特曼病，這是一種罕見且潛在致命的疾病，美國每年只有5000人被診斷出患有這種疾病。醫(yī)生嘗試了一種治療這種疾病的藥物，但結(jié)果證明無效。

“I kept getting more and more sick, and they told my friends and family to say their goodbyes,” says Fajgenbaum, who was given his last rites.

“我病得越來越重，他們告訴我的朋友和家人，是時(shí)候說再見了。”法根鮑姆說，他接受了最后的儀式。

Eventually, chemotherapy proved somewhat effective, and he was released from the hospital, only to relapse three more times in the years that followed. Doctors eventually told him his body couldn’t handle any more chemo.

最終，化療證明有一定療效，他出院后，在隨后的幾年里又復(fù)發(fā)了三次。醫(yī)生最終告訴他，他的身體再也不能接受化療了。

With his treatment options running out, Fajgenbaum obsessively researched ways he might save himself. He wondered if a drug called Sirolimus, approved by the FDA to prevent organ rejection in kidney-transplant patients might work for him.

隨著他的治療選擇越來越少，法根鮑姆著迷地研究他可能拯救自己的方法。他想知道一種名為西羅莫司(Sirolimus)的藥物是否對他有效。西羅莫司是美國食品和藥物管理局(FDA)批準(zhǔn)的，用于預(yù)防腎移植患者的器官排斥反應(yīng)。

“Certain signals in my samples … made me think this drug that suppresses the immune system, so it doesn’t attack and reject the kidney, would work,” Fajgenbaum says. “My communication lines were going crazy, and this drug inhibits [them]. But it had never been used for Castleman.”

Fajgenbaum說：“我的樣本中的某些信號……讓我認(rèn)為這種抑制免疫系統(tǒng)的藥物會(huì)起作用，所以它不會(huì)攻擊和排斥腎臟。”“我的通訊線路快瘋了，這種藥抑制了(他們)。但它從來沒有被卡斯特勒曼使用過。”

Fajgenbaum successfully lobbied his doctors to be his own test subject and started on the drug in February 2014. He hasn’t had a relapse since, and, through his nonprofit, the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network, he’s conducting a clinical trial to see how the drug might work for others.

Fajgenbaum成功地說服他的醫(yī)生成為他自己的試驗(yàn)對象，并于2014年2月開始使用這種藥物。從那以后，他再也沒有復(fù)發(fā)過，通過他的非營利性組織卡斯勒曼疾病合作網(wǎng)絡(luò)(Castleman Disease Collaborative Network)，他正在進(jìn)行一項(xiàng)臨床試驗(yàn)，看看這種藥物如何對其他人有效。

In 2014, he married his college sweetheart, and the couple now has a 1-year-old daughter.

2014年，他和大學(xué)時(shí)代的戀人結(jié)婚，現(xiàn)在他們有一個(gè)一歲的女兒。

“I feel great,” he says. “I’m back to my old self.”

“我感覺很好，”他說。“我又回到了原來的自己。”