ABOUT ME

An engineer who had a different kind of problem to solve.

I spent twenty-five years building companies. Then, an MRI in May 2019. What followed wasn’t a battle — it was a slow education in what the body, the mind, and something quieter need in order to heal.

Purna Pareek, author of Radical Healing

THE STORY

The day everything changed

For years, I worked at the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship — building, scaling, and exiting companies across Silicon Valley. Then a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis turned everything upside down.

Faced with the full weight of modern oncology — and a will to survive that surprised even me — I began an unlikely journey that wove together conventional treatment and time-tested practices: oncologists and meditation, clinical care and community.

What emerged from that crucible is the MEDS framework — and my determination to share it with others walking the same road.

THE STORY

How I got here

1
Pre-2019

Silicon Valley years

Twenty-five years building, scaling, and exiting startups across the Bay Area.

2
May 2019

Strange mornings at the gym

Missed shots at the table-tennis table. Bumping into things on my left side.

3
May 2019

The diagnosis: brain cancer

Stage 4 glioblastoma — one of the most aggressive brain cancers.

4
2019–22

Building the MEDS framework

Conventional treatment alongside a parallel practice: meditation, exercise, diet, sleep.

5
2023–25

The evolution

Recovery turned out to be a doorway. Healing the body opened onto something larger.

6
2026

Radical Healing

Published with Inner Light Press — 22 chapters across six parts, with a deep references section.

HOW I THINK ABOUT HEALING

Three principles

Science first

Western medicine and clinical evidence are the bedrock. Integrative approaches complement — never replace — proven treatment.

Time-tested wisdom

Meditation, breathwork, and inner inquiry carry insights that modern research is increasingly exploring.

Community heals

No one heals alone. Authentic connection and shared experience are among the most underused medicines we have.

FROM THE PREFACE

Why I wrote this book

In my own words — the story behind the story, taken from the preface of Radical Healing.

When I was diagnosed with brain cancer, my life was instantly reordered.

The prognosis was grim, and I had to confront not only my mortality but the deeper question of how I wanted to live whatever time I had left.

In the early days, I approached healing in the most practical way I could. I needed structure — something tangible to hold onto when fear threatened to overwhelm me. That led me to a simple framework I later called MEDS, which helped me take consistent, intentional steps toward recovery.

At first my focus was on the physical. But over time I saw that healing couldn’t be confined to the body alone — my mindset, emotions, and inner state played a far greater role than I’d understood. Gradually the process expanded to include the whole person.

What surprised me most was that as my health improved, an inner shift was taking place too. In learning how to heal, I also learned how to listen — and healing became not just a physical recovery but a quiet transformation that unfolded along the way.

As friends watched my progress, they began sharing my story with others facing similar diagnoses. Before long I was in conversations with people searching not only for medical options, but for meaning, agency, and hope. This book is the result of those conversations.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE

This book is not meant to replace medical care or offer guarantees. It’s an invitation to engage with healing as a whole-person process — one that honors the body, the mind, and the deeper dimensions of being human.

Let me be clear: I am not a physician, and this isn’t medical advice. My credentials are not medical degrees but the lived experience of walking through fire and coming out the other side. What follows isn’t a protocol — it’s a personal blueprint that may resonate with you, or inspire you to find your own.

DEDICATION

To everyone facing this disease — don’t give up. You hold more power to take part in your own healing than you may know.

— Purna

Want me at your event?

I speak on integrative health, resilience, and finding agency in the hardest moments.