James Patterson with Hal Friedman: Torn Apart (UK 2009)

From the Publisher:
Cory Friedman was an ordinary fun-loving little boy. But one fateful March morning in 1989, the course of Cory's life changed dramatically. It started with an irresistible urge to shake his head; before long, overtaken by physical urges, tics and compulsions, his body became a volatile, explosive and unpredictable force.

Cory had developed a rare combination of Tourette's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder and other neurological conditions. The life he knew had been torn apart and his family were left watching him suffer. Desperate to help and hopeful of a cure, they embarked on a fifteen-year struggle which took them beyond breaking point.

James Patterson with Hal Friedman: Torn Apart. The True Story of a Childhood Lost. Arrow, ISBN: 9780099522843 (October, 2009), 368 p., £6.99.

James Patterson with Hal Friedman: Torn Apart (UK 2008)

From the Publisher:
Cory Friedman was an ordinary fun-loving little boy. That fateful March morning in 1989 started just like any other but later that day, he started to feel very different and the course of his life was set to change. It started with an irresistible urge to shake his head, and before long, his body became a volatile, explosive and unpredictable force. Overtaken by physical urges, tics and compulsions, the bright young boy started to feel and look like a puppet on a string.

Cory had developed a rare combination of Tourette Syndrome, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder and other neurological conditions. The life he knew had been torn apart and his family was left watching him suffer. Desperate to help and hopeful of a cure, they embarked on a fifteen year plight which took them beyond breaking point. Cory was seen by thirteen doctors who in total prescribed sixty potent medicines. He was mistakenly sent to a psychiatric ward and. On the brink of utter despair, he and his family decided to try a form of intervention that had never been tried in cases such as Cory's: he was sent to a wilderness survival camp in a bitter, unforgiving snowy Utah winter. This felt like their final chance.

Throughout his young life, Cory struggled to have the same childhood and adolescence as his friends. From time to time an overwhelming anger and frustration overcame him when one doctor after another and an unprecedented number of medicines continually failed him. Still, throughout it all, Cory battled against the extraordinary events that were unfolding, and would take him on one of the most terrifying personaljourneys ever recorded.

Torn Apart is a true story of one family's courage, heartbreak, sacrifice and ultimately, triumph.

James Patterson with Hal Friedman: Torn Apart. The Heartbreaking Story of a Childhood Lost. Century, ISBN: 9781846054020 (November, 2008), 289 p., £16.99.

James Patterson with Hal Friedman: Against Medical Advice (USA 2008)

From the Publisher:
Cory Friedman woke up one morning when he was five years old with the uncontrollable urge to twitch his neck. From that day forward his life became a hell of irrepressible tics and involuntary utterances, and Cory embarked on an excruciating journey from specialist to specialist to discover the cause of his disease. Soon it became unclear what tics were symptoms of his disease and what were side effects of the countless combinations of drugs. The only certainty is that it kept getting worse. Simply put: Cory Friedman's life was a living hell.

AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is the true story of Cory and his family's decades-long battle for survival in the face of extraordinary difficulties and a maddening medical establishment. It is a heart-rending story of struggle and triumph with a climax as dramatic as any James Patterson thriller.

James Patterson with Hal Friedman: Against Medical Advice. One Family's Struggle with an Agonizing Medical Mystery. A True Story. Little, Brown, & Co., ISBN: 9780316024754 (Ocotber, 2008), 283 p., $26.99.