Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
Narrated by: Heather Henderson
Release Date: November 13, 2012
Publisher: Free Press / Brilliance Audio
Genre: Memoir, Mental Health
ISBN: 978-1451621372
Running Time: 7 hours and 48 minutes
Source: Received Hardcover From Publisher / Library Audiobook
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One day, Susannah Cahalan woke up in a strange hospital room, strapped to her bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. Her medical records—from a month-long hospital stay of which she had no memory—showed psychosis, violence, and dangerous instability. Yet, only weeks earlier she had been a healthy, ambitious twenty-four year old, six months into her first serious relationship and a sparkling career as a cub reporter.
Susannah’s astonishing memoir chronicles the swift path of her illness and the lucky, last-minute intervention led by one of the few doctors capable of saving her life. As weeks ticked by and Susannah moved inexplicably from violence to catatonia, $1 million worth of blood tests and brain scans revealed nothing. The exhausted doctors were ready to commit her to the psychiatric ward, in effect condemning her to a lifetime of institutions, or death, until Dr. Souhel Najjar—nicknamed Dr. House—joined her team. He asked Susannah to draw one simple sketch, which became key to diagnosing her with a newly discovered autoimmune disease in which her body was attacking her brain, an illness now thought to be the cause of “demonic possessions” throughout history.
With sharp reporting drawn from hospital records, scientific research, and interviews with doctors and family, Brain on Fire is a crackling mystery and an unflinching, gripping personal story that marks the debut of an extraordinary writer.
*****
Brain on Fire is one of the most fascinating memoirs I have ever read. We follow a 24 year old young adult who has everything going for her in her personal and professional life until one day, a very rare auto immune disease slowly and then all too quickly takes ahold of her brain. I am in complete awe of Susannah’s incredibly harrowing journey and (very gradual) recovery.
With such a vast scope of both mental and physical symptoms (not to mention, incompetent doctors), the disease was misdiagnosed a number of times (a scary experience that happens far too often in the medical field even generally speaking). In this instance, once her diagnosis is nailed down, she becomes only the 217th person in the entire world to be diagnosed. Reading about her journey… you’re reading a nightmare come to life. It is absolutely terrifying.
Susannah tells her story beginning shortly before she ends up in the hospital, then seamlessly moving to her month-long stay in the hospital, ending with the beginning of her recovery and discharge. Brain on Fire is a raw account of one of the most trying times of Susannah’s life, a time that could have quickly led towards a premature death had Susannah not gotten the treatment that she did.
Susannah acknowledges how lucky she is to survive this and how lucky (privileged) she is to have had the ability to take all of the medical tests they administered and be seen by all of the doctors that she was able to see… since not everyone is so lucky. The gathering of accounts that make up Brain on Fire from the woman who experienced it all yet has no memory of her month of terror is truly astounding. Hopefully it will be a great help to someone else suffering from this disease before its too late.
As for the writing/narration? Susannah is a strong reporter, writer and Heather Henderson narrates the audiobook which was very engrossing. I hung onto every word. Even the medical jargon was not overwhelming or hard to follow. I would highly recommend the audiobook for anyone interested in this book who doesn’t mind missing out on the handful of images (including snippets of medical records) sprinkled throughout the print version of the memoir. I highly recommend this memoir overall as it is truly eye opening, educational, and a real life case that you’d expect to see on the fictional show, House if you need anymore of a reason to pick this up. Finally, be sure to read Brain on Fire before the movie adaptation releases.
Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan is available now.