They were an attractive, enviable New York couple - Robert climbing the ranks in Investment Banking and Desiree excelling in the MD/Ph.D. program at Mount Sinai New York. Yet, shortly after Robert was recruited by one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, their world was shaken to its very core. Desiree, having just turned 31, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.
This is a story of the evolution of one person and the awakening of another. Chasing Life is a story of love, joy, resilience, and extraordinary achievements against all odds. It's about a couple uniting to rise above complacency and adversity to live a joyful life congruent with beliefs, passions, and values. It highlights the need to live life in the present moment. It's about learning to savor life while we are alive.
Excerpted from the foreword by Suzanne Rose, MD, MSEd, Senior Vice Dean for Medical Education, Perelman School of Medicine, The University of Pennsylvania
"You are about to read a love story, a story of triumph, a story of drive, passion, compassion and about a courageous fight in the face of adversity. I came to know Dr. Desiree Pardi as someone who was always chasing her dream; she did not just pursue the dream in order to catch up; she caught up with her dream, outsmarted that dream and pursued another, and another, and another. Chasing Life is the perfect title for this labor of love, a portrait of an incredible young woman pursuing her passion, surpassing every expectation and then moving forward again until she could go no further because of a devastating and aggressive disease."
Praise for Chasing Life
"Cancer and death have a unique way of getting our attention. As a hospice physician, many of my patients used to tell me they became 'alive' only after facing cancer and death ... and some regretted all of the years and decades they spent 'sleep-walking.' Desiree and Rob in this book share what it means to be live fully aware, awake, and alive. If you want to live an abundant life - one that is fully woke - this book will grab, surprise, inspire, break, and renew you because everything you heard before is probably wrong. The abundant life is not about fame, money, and personal success." - James A. Avery, MD, Visiting Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia
"Chasing Life is a love story, an ode to a brilliant doctor whose own illness shaped a legacy of patient care that I have surely benefited from in my own cancer journey. This memoir proves that luck goes beyond issues of mortality - that the greater gift is to be lucky in love." - Leslie Lehr, Author of A Boob's Life: How America's Obsession Shaped Me...and You.
"Love, we learn is not always about a fairy tale with happy endings. It's a tale of two people who in sharing their deepest vulnerabilities, discover each other and themselves wholeheartedly. In this vivid retelling of his 11 years caring for his wife, Robert challenges the reader to ask themselves essential life questions about how adversity calls on us to rise-up and embrace our fuller humanity. This is a story of love in its most transformative expression." - Mark Stolow, CEO, Huddol Journeys
"Chasing Life is a heartbreaking and heartwarming story about two amazing individuals, Desiree and Rob, who shared the passion for life through transformative love and angelic compassion in the face of horrendous circumstances. Undaunted in her dedication to care for the suffering, while going through 11 years of her own recurring and worsening cancer, Desiree gave the full energy of her heart and soul to helping people with advanced illness. As a physician, she was an early champion of palliative care, and was able to help so many people through the most difficult times of their lives. All the while, Rob's inspirational, relentless support and devotion were a testament to the meaning of genuine love." - Csaba Mera, MD.
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