John Grisham’s "The Tumor" Has Reached One Million People

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book cover3Four years ago, the Foundation’s Chairman, Neal F. Kassell, MD, and Board member and best-selling author John Grisham took the stage at TEDx Charlottesville to share the potential of an innovative medical technology, focused ultrasound. The video of that talk – which also featured a Parkinson’s patient, Kimberly, who told her inspiring story – has been viewed more than 75,000 times.

It was there that Grisham announced the release of his free book The Tumor. The book was a pivotal moment for the Foundation because, to date, it has introduced more than one million people to the potential of this revolutionary therapy.

“I have often said that The Tumor is the most important book that I’ve written, because it has the potential to impact so many lives,” shared Grisham. “Good stories will always reach large audiences. For The Tumor, and its message of hope, a million readers is only the starting point.”

Since late 2015, focused ultrasound has earned new FDA approvals to treat essential tremor, tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease, and prostate tissue – and more approvals are on the way. New clinical trials have also begun in Alzheimer’s disease, psychiatric disorders, pain, ALS, and glioblastoma – the very disease that Paul suffered from in The Tumor.

Although more work is needed before focused ultrasound is a standard-of-care for many of these patients, the Foundation is committed to making this happen in the shortest time possible.

To continue these important awareness efforts, Dr. Kassell recently shared the impact that the 2015 TEDx event had on the Foundation and the global reach of focused ultrasound. The short video was produced in collaboration with the TEDx Charlottesville team and premiered at the 2019 event last week.

“More than any other experience that I have had talking about focused ultrasound, the 2015 TEDx Charlottesville event was really a transition point for me,” shared Kassell. “When Kimberly ran out on stage, 1,200 people in the audience stood up, cheered, clapped, and cried. It validated the fact that we were onto something really important.”

Download The Tumor today as an e-book or audiobook. At this time, hard copies are not available.

The Washington Post’s review of John Grisham’s latest novel, The Guardians, included a nod to The Tumor. Read the article >