Jun 13, 2020
Neil Spector, M.D. is one of the country’s top oncologists and a cancer researcher at Duke University School of Medicine. He’s also a Lyme disease survivor and someone who understands how a life-threatening illness can strip away the veneer and reveal the truth of our humanity.
At the age of 53, he almost died from a disease that should have been diagnosed and treated when he was 37. His memoir, Gone in a Heartbeat: A Physician’s Search for True Healing, explores his journey of misdiagnosis and despite being a medical insider, how he was often discounted by his fellow physicians.
On the day of this recording, Dr. Spector was experiencing chronic pain from post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease and I suggested that we reschedule to give him some time to recover. Instead, he decided to move forward with the interview and shared some of the most vulnerable, raw, and inspirational insights from his battle with Lyme disease.