Duffy's whirlwind life of celebrity came to an unexpected, grinding halt. She was struck, with a rare, incurable disease -- sarcoidosis of the central nervous system -- which left her partially paralyzed, in tremendous pain, and, at times, near death. Confronted with her mortality, Duffy realized that even though she had a serious illness, she didn't have to take it seriously.

Model Patient is an inspiring and hilarious memoir about how Karen Duffy discovered that disease may have changed her body, but it didn't have to change her. With humor, Duffy learned to embrace the chaos of a life-threatening illness that allowed her to triumph over a death sentence. With her indomitable joie de vivre, she even discovered the love of her life at a time when life couldn't have been any worse.