On Sale Date: February 1, 2022
ISBN 9781250751478, 1250751470
Trade Paperback | 320 pages
“Should be read by anyone with a body. . . . Relentlessly researched and undeniably smart.”
—The New York Times
Named one of BuzzFeed's "Best Books of 2021"
What Doesn’t Kill You is the riveting account of a young journalist’s 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 tried to push through the searing pain, taking time off work and staying home, glued to the toilet. But when it became glaringly apparent something was wrong, Miller gave in to her family’s requests and went to the hospital—and thus started a years-long personal nightmare that included procedures, misdiagnoses, and life-threatening infections. Once Miller was finally correctly diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, she had yet another new battle to face: accepting that she will, in truth, never get better.
Today, 3 in 5 adults in the United States suffer from a chronic ailment, whether the illness is endometriosis, IBS, Crohn’s, asthma, depression, anxiety, diabetes, or any other chronic ailment. However, despite the prevalence of these illnesses and the impact they have on just about everyone—whether the sufferer is a colleague, a loved one, or you personally—there remains an air of shame and isolation around the topic. Millions endure these diseases alone, not only physically but also emotionally, balancing the stress of relationships and work amidst the ever-looming threat of health complications.
Moving from Miller’s maddening yet all too relatable experience into a deeper look at how the medical community handles chronic illness, What Doesn't Kill You exposes the realities of what it means to accept a lifetime diagnosis, pushing past the good, the bad, and the ugly to offer wisdom and solidarity for those trying to make sense of it all.
