The Villains Who Snapped My Spine: A Memoir tells your story of diagnosing and coping with a rare nervous system disease. Why was this an important book for you to write?

It seemed pertinent to write a hospital journal, even though I wasn’t sure why. I recall thinking I had to record what happened or wait for my literary genius of a sister to pen a version after I’m dead (assuming she gets bored with fiction). Since I’m impatient, I gave it my best shot. If I wasn’t the author, it’d probably be ten times better, an award contender, and eventually adapted to film by the Hallmark Channel.

Honestly, though, if anyone else gets hit with an unexpected health crisis, I’m hoping they might read The Villains Who Snapped My Spine and be inspired—maybe even laugh. In a hospital, you can only read Jalopnik, the Bible, or Twitter for so long, and any medical-themed memoir I picked up made me want to put it down. I’m not really into reading tearjerker sob-smut, so I felt compelled to produce something a little more upbeat.

I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?

My wife, because I want to be with her for a long time. This diagnosis was a stark reminder that life is just a countdown clock to death, there are no guarantees, and you can’t get a time refund even if you have a good credit score or subscribe to Prime.

What is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you started the process of getting a diagnosis?

Don’t think you are dealing with something as harmless as everyone else just because there is a 99% chance that the diagnosis won’t be a worst-case scenario.

What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?

Never downplay how bad you feel. Often it’s nothing serious, but sometimes the issue is as life-threatening as playing on a Twister mat over an open grave.

Life is short, so don’t waste any of it working at places like the Post Office or putting off that one crucial thing until tomorrow. Maybe read a memoir.

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