Lifespan: Stories of Illness, Accident, and Recovery

Janet Golden, professor emerita of history, Rutgers University, describes her experience with Long Covid and points out that infectious diseases often lead to chronic diseases and conditions. That’s yet another reason to make sure all your, and your children’s, vaccinations are up to date. Preventing infectious illness often prevents chronic illness.

Dylan lives in Tennessee. He’s a magazine editor. He has a wife. He has a young daughter. And he has Alport syndrome, a hereditary kidney disease. In this episode of Lifespan, Dylan describes his years on kidney dialysis, how a kidney transplant recently transformed his life, and the uniqueness of being part of an extended family with so many members affected by an inherited illness.

Larry and Carol have been married for 66 years. About 17 years ago, Carol began to show signs of memory problems. She has since been diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s. In this episode of Lifespan, Larry, and his daughter, Madeline, who are both physicians, talk about Carol and the difficulties that Alzheimer’s presents to everyone touched by the illness.

When someone suspects they have a tumor, the first thing they think about, and fear, is cancer. So, when their biopsy comes back as “benign,” they’re relieved. But the word “benign” can be deceptive. In this episode of Lifespan, our guest, Deidre Naughton, describes her experience with painful, recurring, non-cancerous tumors.

“‘Breast cancer awareness’ is a national catchphrase. There is less recognition, however, of testicular cancer, even though the average age for onset is 33, far younger than for breast cancer. At 33, few men worry about cancer and so they tend to ignore any signs of the illness. In this episode of Lifespan, Dan Skinner, a professor of health policy, and the producer and host of the podcast, Prognosis Ohio, describes his experience with testicular cancer and reflects on the culture that avoids recognition and discussion of the illness. You can listen to Prognosis Ohio, Dan’s podcast about health and healthcare in Ohio, at https://www.prognosisohio.com.