Actor Joe Manganiello, 49, says he spent seven years fighting a cascade of autoimmune-related illnesses that he believed would kill him. He tells the story in his memoir Bloodlines, which arrives October 13.
According to the publisher's description, Manganiello's "body began to fail him" without warning. The illness affected his skin, thyroid, eyes, lungs and digestive system. He underwent a life-saving organ amputation. He says he never received a single conclusive diagnosis, and doctors had few answers. Speaking to People, he said, "For seven years I thought I was going to be dead the next week." He also says he lost about 60 pounds.
Manganiello says he looked beyond traditional medicine and traced his family history, including an ancestor who survived the Armenian genocide. He says a Santa Monica shaman helped him heal.
He says he has recovered. "I feel like I was reborn," he told People.
The memoir covers "illness, inheritance, masculinity, faith, ambition," according to the publisher. For readers living with chronic illness, his story is about endurance when answers don't come.
Faith is one of the book's named themes, and his account of surviving without a diagnosis is a reminder for believers to pray for the chronically ill, whose struggles are often unseen.
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