Kickstarting a Cure

Twenty-five million Americans struggle with rare, debilitating diseases. One pioneering doctor is crowdfunding their hope.

Photo courtesy Tim Barker

The geneticist called it a one-in-three-billion chance.

Just one. Out of three billion. Take a plane to Asia—absolutely anywhere in Asia—and randomly point to the first person you see. Is it Kim Jong-un, the fade-hairdoed leader of North Korea? Yes? Well, you’ve just beaten the odds we’re talking about here.

But that’s all the likelihood it took for Robert Stone—the only never-in-a-million-years, statistical screw-you that Robert’s body needed to land him in a wheelchair and cause legions of medical know-it-alls to scratch their heads in wonder for thirteen long and painful years.