Rare with Flair

Rare with Flair


73. the alternate life where we wouldn’t be friends

August 01, 2023

hi hello hey, what if you weren’t… you?


What if, in an alternate universe, there was a variant of you that was different in one crucial way? How would you be different? This might be a brain-breaking thought experiment, but it’s fun to consider, and potentially to appreciate the life you have.


In this episode, we think through how we might be different if we didn’t have Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome. Of course, it’s impossible to know for sure, but we may not even recognize ourselves without it (literally and figuratively)! Despite all the difficulties our rare disease has brought, it’s fundamentally changed our lives. Join us as we talk through what our lives would be like, for better or for worse.



collage of toddler case (left) and baby cass (right). case, about 3, smiles up shyly and holds up a finger. cass, a baby, sits stoic wearing sunglassesYoung Case and Cass, 1995/1998