Special Episode: Lawrence Ingrassia & A Fatal Inheritance

This Podcast Will Kill You

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

Health & Fitness, Science

4.8 • 17.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For centuries, physicians noticed that cancer sometimes ran in families, but until the 1960s, an answer to this mystery remained out of reach. Only then were scientists beginning to unlock the cellular dynamics underlying cancer, and what they found finally allowed grief-stricken families to put a name and explanation to their experience. It wasn’t simply bad luck. It was genetics: a heritable mutation in a key tumor suppressor gene that greatly increases the risk of developing cancer in your lifetime, a condition known as Li-Fraumeni Syndrome. Journalist Lawrence Ingrassia belongs to one of those families; he has lost his mother, three siblings, and a nephew to cancer. In this TPWKY book club episode, Ingrassia joins me to discuss his book A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery, where he weaves together his family’s story with that of the scientists who sought to uncover the cellular drivers of cancer. Tune in for a heartbreaking and inspiring journey.

Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is exactly right.
0:07.0	People who didn't do what John of God wanted them to do, they usually disappeared.
0:15.0	John of God was once Brazil's most famous spiritual healer.
0:20.0	But in this limited series podcast, we uncover the darker truth behind his global empire of faith and fear.
0:29.0	From exactly right and Adonde Media, this is two-faced, John of God.
0:34.6	Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The
0:57.0	The Hi, I'm Erin Welsh, and this is this Podcast Will Kill You. You're listening to the latest episode in our TPWKY Book Club series, where I bring on authors of popular science and medicine books to chat about their work, the stories they cover, and the inspiration behind them. We have featured some wonderful books
1:45.6	so far this series, and if you'd like to check out the full list of book club books, you're in luck.
1:51.1	Head on over to our website, this podcast will kill you.com, find the extras tab, and then click on
1:57.2	Bookshop. That will take you to our bookshop.org affiliate page, which has a bunch of
2:02.5	podcast-related lists, including a book club list that has all the books from this season and past
2:08.7	seasons. And if you have any book suggestions, episode topic suggestions, or just other thoughts
2:14.4	you'd like to share with us, please reach out using the contact us form on our website.
2:19.5	Two last things before moving on to this week's book,
2:22.5	and that is to first, please rate, review, and subscribe if you haven't already.
2:26.8	It does help us out.
2:28.6	And secondly, you can now find full video versions of most of our newest episodes on YouTube.
2:34.8	Make sure you're subscribed to Exactly Right Media's YouTube channel so you never miss a new episode drop.
2:40.0	Stories of scientific progress and discovery often portray scientists armed with facts
2:46.4	and data, triumphing over death and disease. It's a forward march with a clear narrative arc,
2:52.7	from a place of ignorance to one of enlightenment. And as much as we love tidy stories like these,
2:58.8	science rarely happens that way. More often than not, it's a battle with each hard one inch of
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.