When a Bright Spot Darkens Your World: Battling Brain Cancer

“This book is an extraordinary account of a young man facing cancer in the prime of his life. Deeply moving and inspiring. Reminds me of the writing of Atul Gawande.”
Jason Ryan, MD, Creator of Boards and Beyond, Author of The Gunner

"Ethan shares a poignant, emotionally raw, insider’s view of what it’s like to experience a dramatic life shift from someone dedicated to serving patients to becoming one. If When Breath Becomes Air had a prequel, this would be it. What I took home from this book is that courage and the love of family and friends can get you through anything."
Mark McLaughlin, MD, Neurosurgeon, Author of Cognitive Dominance: A Brain Surgeon’s Quest to Outthink Fear

At 20 years old, just after finishing his sophomore year of college, Ethan Gasteyer’s life changed overnight with a diagnosis of a cancerous brain tumor.
But his story with cancer began years earlier.
In high school, Ethan watched a friend battle cancer, a loss that would quietly shape how he understood illness, mortality, and the fragility of the future. At the time, it was something that happened to someone else. Until it wasn’t.
What follows is not just a story of illness, but of a life unfolding alongside it.
He takes readers through years of treatment, uncertainty, and resilience, navigating college, relationships, and the demanding path toward medical school while living with brain cancer.
As both patient and aspiring physician, Ethan offers a rare and deeply personal perspective on illness from both sides of the hospital bed. His journey is marked not only by fear and disruption, but by growth, purpose, and an evolving understanding of what it means to heal.
Spanning over five years of living with brain cancer, this memoir is an honest, unfiltered account of a life interrupted and the determination to keep moving forward anyway.