Paul Kalanithi

Paul Sudhir Arul Kalanithi (April 1, 1977 – March 9, 2015) was an American neurosurgeon, neuroscientist, and writer. His book When Breath Becomes Air is a memoir about his life and illness with stage IV metastatic lung cancer. It was posthumously published by Random House in January 2016. It was on The New York Times Non-Fiction Best Seller list for multiple weeks.

Early life and education Paul Kalanithi was born on April 1, 1977, and lived in Westchester, New York. He was born to a Christian family hailing from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, India. Kalanithi had two brothers, Jeevan and Suman; Jeevan is a computer/robotics engineer and Suman is a neurologist. The family moved from Bronxville, New York, to Kingman, Arizona, when Kalanithi was 10. Kalanithi attended Kingman High School, where he graduated as valedictorian. He was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society. Lucy is an associate professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and wrote the epilogue to When Breath Becomes Air. Lucy is the twin sister of Joanna Goddard of the blog A Cup of Jo. Lucy has been in a relationship with North Carolina lawyer John Duberstein since Kalanithi's death. Duberstein's wife Nina Riggs was a poet who wrote a memoir as she succumbed to cancer. Lucy had been in touch with Nina and even wrote a blurb for Nina's book; after Nina's death John reached out to Lucy for advice on how to grieve.

Although Kalanithi was raised in a devout Christian family, he turned away from the faith in his teens and twenties in favor of other ideas. However, he retained "the central values of Christianity — sacrifice, redemption, forgiveness" and returned to Christianity later in his life.