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Prologue; Part 1: A Suppuration of Blood

• "The Emperor of all Maladies" begins with the tale of Carla Reed, a 30 year old kindergarten teacher from Ipswich, MA.

• One morning Carla awoke with a bad headache which she described as numbness; the problem worsened as time went on, but Carla's symptoms were unexplainable from a medical point of view.

• Eventually, it was determined that Carla had leukemia.
• The author, Siddhartha Mukherjee, learned about Carla after she had checked into Massachusetts General Hospital.

• Mukherjee was one of seven cancer fellows at the hospital involved in an intensive and immersive training program.

• During this time, Mukherjee began to wonder about the age of cancer and met with Carla.

• With the advent of modern medicine and new treatments, Carla had a 30% chance of surviving the disease.
• In 1947, a pathologist named Sidney Farber ordered aminopterin that he hoped could be used in deterring the...

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