num_pages: 320
description: What Doesnt Kill You is the riveting account of a young journalists awakening to chronic illness weaving together personal story and reporting to shed light on living with an ailment forever.Tessa Miller was an ambitious twentysomething writer in New York City when on a random fall day her stomach began to seize up. At first she toughed it out through searing pain taking sick days from work unable to leave the bathroom or her bed. But when it became undeniable that something was seriously wrong Miller gave in to family pressure and went to the hospitalbeginning a yearslong nightmare of procedures misdiagnoses and life-threatening infections. Once she was finally correctly diagnosed with Crohns disease Miller faced another battle: accepting that she will never get better.Today an astonishing three in five adults in the United States suffer from a chronic diseasea percentage expected to rise post-Covid. Whether the illness is arthritis asthma Crohns diabetes endometriosis multiple sclerosis ulcerative colitis or any other incurable illness and whether the sufferer is a colleague a loved one or you these diseases have an impact on just about every one of us. Yet there remains an air of shame and isolation about the topic of chronic sickness. Millions must endure these disorders not only physically but also emotionally balancing the stress of relationships and work amid the ever-present threat of health complications.Miller segues seamlessly from her dramatic personal experiences into a frank look at the cultural realities (medical occupational social) inherent in receiving a lifetime diagnosis. She offers hard-earned wisdom solidarity and an ultimately surprising promise of joy for those trying to make sense of it all.
language: English
title: What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt
publisher: Henry Holt and Co.