Bestselling author and award-winning journalist Richard M. Cohen, whose wife is TV personality and journalist Meredith Vieira, has been living with multiple sclerosis for over 40 years.
Although he's legally blind and struggles with simple movements due to failing limbs, his new book Chasing Hope is full of humor while it also sheds light on a groundbreaking medical procedure that gives hope to people who suffer from debilitating illnesses. It also shares his deeply personal story of highs and lows.
Read on for a particularly gripping excerpt from the book.
No longer could I pretend I was winning the war. In short, I was in a bad place, withdrawn and spending too much time alone. One day my home phone rang and rang. Caller ID signaled it was a good friend. I listened to the message. He was inviting me to join him to walk along the river, as we so often did.
My chest tightened, but I did not answer. I waited until the message finished and then erased it. I only wanted to be left alone. I was hiding, warehousing myself on a dusty shelf out of sight.
From CHASING HOPE by Richard M. Cohen, published by Blue Rider Press, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2018 by Richard M. Cohen.