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Undiagnosed episode 2: "The gardner"

May 01, 2023

A cut on the roof of your mouth. A step in a shallow puddle during a game of backyard football. Potting soil beneath your fingernails. Occurrences like these are, at worst, minor inconveniences for most of the world. However, they can lead to weeks or months of agony for some. This reality is made even harsher for someone who finds profound joy in the simplicity of growing flowers from tilled earth. Someone like Shane – who has to take extreme caution when performing the most calming of hobbies. 

Before being diagnosed with chronic granulomatosis disease, or CGD, Shane suffered intense, frequent infections that left him hospitalized for weeks at a time, and with a reluctant dependence on opioids. This is his story.

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