The Alternative

This episode is anonymous. The account belongs to a man in his late fifties. What you hear is his account, read exactly as he wrote it. Not one word has been changed.He has been in pain every second of every day since childhood. His body has failed across six regulatory systems. He has been told he would not survive three times. He has no pharmaceutical support. He rides his bike.This is not a story about overcoming. It is a story about what it actually costs to keep going when the medical literature has run out of things to say about you.Content note: this episode contains frank discussion of severe chronic illness, medical crisis, faecal incontinence, and end-of-life prognosis. It is not softened.Mentioned in this episode:Intro