David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

for empathy. But in Freireich’s
formative years, every human connection
ended in death and abandonment—and a
childhood as bleak as that leaves only
pain and anger in its wake.
Once, in the middle of reminiscing
about his career, Freireich burst into an
attack on the idea that terminally ill
cancer patients be given hospice care at
the end of their lives. “You have all
these doctors who want to do hospice
care. I mean, how can you treat a person
like that?” When Freireich gets worked
up about something, he raises his voice,
and his jaw sets. “Do you say, ‘You’ve
got cancer, you’re certainly going to die.
You’ve got pain and it’s horrible. I’m