Breathe Again: Surviving Guillain Barre

When 52-year-old curriculum coordinator Todd J. Pope rolled up his sleeve for a routine set of immunizations in April 2025, he had no idea his life was about to be violently rerouted. Exhausted from a grueling 300-mile weekly commute, a fracturing marriage, a stalled doctoral dissertation, and the agonizing process of placing his terminal father into hospice care, Todd chose what he was best at: ignoring the warning signs. But what began as a subtle tingle in his hands and feet quickly became a full-body assault. Within weeks, his immune system mistakenly turned on himself, unspooling into a severe case of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) that stripped away his ability to walk, swallow, and ultimately, to breathe.Breathe Again: Surviving Guillain-Barré Syndrome is a raw, terrifying, and unexpectedly witty account of a man who stacked survival events like baseball cards. From the claustrophobia of a medically induced coma and life-threatening lung collapses to a profound near-death experience that challenged everything he knew about existence, Todd shares the messy reality of what happens when your body completely says "no". More than just a medical survival story, this memoir is an intimate exploration of rock-bottom transparency, the fierce grace of family and caregivers, and the profound emotional workout required to let go of an old life in order to build a resilient new one. It is a powerful reminder that survival is just the starting line-and that it is never too late to rewrite your destiny.