Patient

The True Story of a Rare Illness

By: Ben Watt

Narrated by: Ben Watt

Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

In the summer of 1992, on the eve of an American tour, Ben Watt, one half of the Billboard-topping pop duo Everything but the Girl, was taken to a London hospital complaining of chest pain. He didn't leave for two and a half months. Watt had developed a rare, life-threatening disease that initially baffled doctors. By the time he was allowed home, his ravaged body was 46 pounds lighter, and he was missing most of his small intestine.

Watt injects pathos and humor into his medical nightmare, writing about his childhood, reflecting on his family and on his shared life with band member and partner Tracey Thorn. The result is a provocative and affecting memoir about life, illness, and survival.

©1996 Ben Watt. Recorded by arrangement with Grove Atlantic, Inc. (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Just the Facts

The author's British culture is on full display here, as he recounts fact after fact of what happened to him during a prolonged nightmare of illness that left him forever changed, but he underplays the emotional reactions he and those around him experienced. He also barely mentions his illness's effect on his famous music career.

good read

This is a good description of long hospital stays and illness. It was well written.

Beautifully done.

Such a serious and scary story but written with humor, heart,honesty. Medically explained in terms anyone can understand but far from “dry” and clinical. I am so impressed with how Ben handled this tragic life long illness. No one could have done this audio justice but him. Having 2 autoimmune diseases,this was extra special. Bravo,well done on all fronts!

An Open Look Into A Serious Health Condition

I was captivated throughout the entire story. In fact, I wasn't ready for it to end. I had never heard of Ben Watt or his and his wife's band, Everything But the Girl. I appreciated Ben's openness in telling such a personal struggle. If I could have changed anything, I would have liked to have heard more about how Tracy's life and their music career were affected by his sudden health scare. Basically, I would have liked to have learned more about his personal life.

Because of listening to his book, I looked him up on YouTube and watched several of their older videos as well as his newer music, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am an instant fan and added their album to my music collection. What a lovely couple. I heard they later got married and had children, so I would like a follow up book please. 🙂

Beauty in pain

Lovely read. This book was a sobering look at the humanity and the fragility within it. Mr. Watt has some beautiful ways of seeing life, and hearing his harrowing journey as it is was something.

Seeking a diagnosis

This was an honest account about how it feels to be really ill and receive no diagnosis. He is trying to live as normal a life as he can with this disease. My heart goes out to him.

very courageous man!

the narrator was the perfect person to read this book, since he lived through it.

Enough already...

This could have been a really engaging and insightful account of the author's severe but mysterious illness and his fight to survive. Instead, it reads more like a laundry list of how inferior he considered everyone around him during that time. I feel for the author and what an awful experience his illness and hospitalization must have been. However, the overall tone and delivery of the story comes off as whiny, entitled, and quite unsympathetic to his fellow patients. I finally gave up after the frankly cruel and dehumanizing description of a patient there for bariatric surgery.