Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Author’s Note

Part I: Lives in the Balance

1.   The Ties That Bind

2.   Jason

3.   Bob

4.   Linda and Merredith

Part II: The Immune System and the Festival of Life

5.   The Bird, Dog, Starfish, and Magic Bullet

6.   The Festival

7.   Festival Crashers

8.   The Mystery Organ

9.   The B-Word

10.  T Cells and B Cells

11.  Vaccines

12.  The Infinity Machine

13.  Transplant

14.  The Immune System’s Fingerprint

15.  Inflammation

16.  Fever

17.  Flash Gordon

18.  The Harmonious Way

19.  Three Wise Men and the Monoclonal Antibody

20.  A Second Immune System

Part III: Bob

21.  Sex Machine

22.  GRID

23.  The Phone Call

24.  CD4 and CD8

25.  Magic

26.  The Prime

Part IV: Linda and Merredith

27.  Linda

28.  The Wolf

29.  Invisible Evidence

30.  Best of Both Worlds (Sort Of)

31.  Merredith

32.  Should You Pick Your Nose?

33.  Microbiome

34.  Stress

35.  Sleep

Part V: Jason

36.  A Word About Cancer

37.  Laughter and Tears

38.  The Lazarus Mouse

39.  Wound Healing

40.  Programmed Death

41.  The Breakthrough

42.  Jason Races Time

43.  Shepherd of Death

44.  Trials, Personal and Clinical

45.  The Other Shoe

Part VI: Homecoming

46.  Bob

47.  Linda

48.  Jan and Ron

49.  Jason Down the White Tunnel

50.  Jason Rises

51.  Apollo 11

52.  Home

53.  Jason’s Way

54.  The Meanings of Life

55.  The Meaning of Jason

Acknowledgments

Index

About the Author

Also by Matt Richtel

Copyright

About the Publisher