Joe Cherry photographed at his home in South Dartmouth, Mass. After many delays in getting a correct diagnosis, Cherry was eventually diagnosed with Churg Strauss Syndrome - a rare autoimmune disease which often begins with asthma and then inflames blood vessels, causing pain in the extremities.
Mann listened for nearly an hour as Cherry described his work, family life, and overseas trips—and a car accident years earlier that left him with chronic asthma. The asthma, along with the extremely elevated white blood cell count, pointed Mann toward a rare auto immune disease called Churg-Strauss syndrome, which often begins with asthma and then inflames blood vessels, causing pain in the extremities. His suspicions were confirmed with a tissue biopsy, and Cherry was immediately put on powerful steroids and immune-suppressing drugs. He was fortunate. "I was told that I wouldn't be alive today if I hadn't gotten there that week," Cherry says. "I would never have met any of my five grandchildren."
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