Dr. Robert Redfield looked concerned. It was September 2020, and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had just poked me in the neck and found my lymph node swollen like a rock.
“Michael, I don’t want to alarm you, but you need to be examined right away,” Redfield warned me. “That could indicate cancer.”
Serving as an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) during COVID, I spent a lot of time with Redfield and other public health leaders on the pandemic response. At times, Redfield and I disagreed; always, we were mutually respectful. I learned to listen to him closely.
That day, I was rushed off to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center where the chief surgeon removed my lymph node and confirmed it was head and neck cancer. My life quickly spiraled into treatment and recovery, and Redfield was along for the ride.
I am alive because I listened to Dr. Redfield then, which is why I’m writing today. If our nation reads and heeds his new book (Redfield’s Warning: What I Learned [But Couldn’t Tell You] Might Save Your Life), millions of lives may be saved in the next pandemic.
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