CZ continues his discussion on DCEKG with sharing how having the hope of a breakthrough drug rescued him from a life cut short; how his MS issued a near-knockout blow, sending him to live stuck in his parents’ Long Island basement, dependent, and unproductive. Hope arrives in the form another innovative drug. Soon after he begins his second DMT, he goes from single, wheelchair bound, and alone, to married, with four kids, and career Forest Gump would find implausible. He credits the science and having multiple treatment options or holding back his MS, for what turned out to be relief from disease progression for almost 20 years. Shortly after leaving Capitol Hill, he spent ten years at Verizon followed by a move to his wife’s family’s home state of Minnesota. Until CZ and his family return from self-imposed exile after the new president’s team calls seeking help with confirming three of cabinet nominees. A brief volunteer gig turns into tours of service at the OMB, CFPB, and the West Wing; with his MS riding shotgun the whole time. When the inevitable happens and he can no longer work, he takes on a new cause and founded a nonprofit patient advocacy group, called Survivors for Solutions.
