Side Effects: The Toll a Rare Disease Can Take on a Family in Pursuit of a Cure

In his new book, Emmy-winning news and documentary television producer Miguel Sancho recounts the efforts he and his wife Felicia Morton went through to get their son Sebastian diagnosed and treated for chronic granulomatous disease, a rare and deadly immunodeficiency. The book “More than You Can Handle: A Rare Disease, a Family in Crisis, and the Cutting-Edge Medicine that Cured the Incurable” follows some familiar territory for books in the genre but diverges in its willingness to explore the strains on a marriage that can arise when a child becomes ill with a rare and deadly disease, the difficulties parents can have coping, and the post-traumatic stress disorder that can follow even a successful cure. We spoke to Sancho and Morton about their journey to get their son diagnosed and treated, the challenges they faced, and how, after a period of relying on the generosity of others, they found healing in turning their attention outward to help others.