Stroke Pizza is a collection of short stories written by members of the cavernous malformation (CCM) community.
In 2025, as Rare Disease Day approached, a small group of patients and caregivers began searching for a rare disease anthology that included CCM. When they couldn’t find one, they decided to create their own. Over the course of a year, participants met monthly to write, share, revise, and encourage one another — transforming a book club idea into a meaningful writing project.
The result is a compilation of honest, varied, and deeply personal stories about living with CCM — stories that explore resilience, humor, loss, adaptation, and the unexpected moments that shape life with a rare neurovascular condition.
This collection was created through a community writing group hosted by the Alliance to Cure Cavernous Malformation, highlighting the power of storytelling and connection within rare disease communities.
Get the Book
Download the free PDF here: Stroke Pizza
The book will also be available on:
Kindle | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble
Interested in joining our “Write Club” in 2026? We’d love to hear from you at info@alliancetocure.org!
Join Us for Rare Disease Day Book Club 2026
We’ll be reading Stroke Pizza for our Rare Disease Day Book Club on February 28th.
Because this is a collection of short stories, there’s no pressure to read it cover to cover. Read as many stories as you like — or as many as you’re able — and join the conversation wherever you are in the book.
📅 Book Club Date: February 28th, 4:00 Eastern
🔗 Register Here
With Gratitude
Our heartfelt thanks to the writers who shared their journeys and made this collection possible.
We are especially grateful to Kristen Fowler for organizing the group throughout the year, and to Rebecca Kneale Gould, whose editing was indispensable in shaping these stories.
And thank you for reading — for taking the time to sit with these experiences and be part of this community.
