His obsessive focus deepened, helping him learn to appreciate life’s precious moments and understand that bad things happen to good people.
他对工作的执着加深了,这帮助他学会了珍惜生命中的珍贵时刻,懂得了坏事会发生在好人身上。
“I know people far more worthy of miracles than I am who haven’t gotten them,” he says.
他说:“我认识比我更值得发生奇迹的人,那些还没有奇迹发生的人。”
David founded a support group for grieving college students at Georgetown called Students of AMF —
大卫在乔治城为悲痛的大学生建立了一个叫AMF的学生的互助小组,
an acronym for Ailing Mothers and Fathers, as well as his mother’s initials.
这是生病的父母的首字母缩写,也是他母亲姓名的首字母缩写。
(Reader’s Digest wrote about his group in May 2008.)
(《读者文摘》在2008年5月报道了他的团队。)
David went on to earn a master’s degree at the University of Oxford,
大卫继续在牛津大学获得了硕士学位,
where he learned how to conduct scientific research so that he could fight the disease that took his mom.
在那里,他学会了如何进行科学研究,这样他就能与夺去他母亲的疾病作斗争。
That relentless focus and scientific rigor would one day save his life.
这种不懈的专注和科学的严谨某一天会挽救他的生命。
David entered medical school at the University of Pennsylvania to become a doctor like his father—specifically, an oncologist, in tribute to his late mother.
为了纪念他已故的母亲,大卫进入了宾夕法尼亚大学的医学院,成为了一名像他父亲一样的医生——确切地说,一名肿瘤学家。
In 2010, during his third year, he got very sick and was hospitalized for five months.
2010年,在他第三年的时候,他得了重病,住院5个月。
Something was attacking his liver, kidneys, and other organs and shutting them down.
当时有东西正在攻击他的肝脏、肾脏和其他器官并使它们停止运转。
The diagnosis was idiopathic multi-centric Castleman disease.
他被诊断为特发性多中心淋巴结增生症。
First described in 1954, Castleman presents partly like an autoimmune condition and partly like cancer.
淋巴结增生症首次出现于1954年,部分表现为自身免疫性疾病,部分表现为癌症。
It’s about as rare as ALS; there are around 7,000 new cases each year in the United States.
它和肌萎缩侧索硬化症一样罕见;美国每年大约有7000例新病例。
The disease causes certain immune-signaling molecules, called cytokines, to go into overdrive.
这种疾病会导致某些叫做细胞因子的免疫信号分子超负荷工作。
It’s as if they’re calling in fighter jets for all-out attacks on home territory.
这就好像他们正在召集战斗机对本国领土进行全面攻击。
In his hospital bed, David felt nauseated and weak.
大卫躺在医院的病床上,感到恶心和虚弱。
His organs were failing, and he noticed curious red spots on his skin.
他的器官在衰竭,他注意到他的皮肤上有奇怪的红斑。
He asked each new doctor who came in his room what the “blood moles” meant.
他问每一个走进他房间的新医生“血痣”是什么意思。
But his doctors, focused on saving his life, weren’t interested in them.
但他的医生专注于挽救他的生命,对这些红斑不感兴趣。