Tonight is the beginning of the three-part documentary, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer”. The movie is based on the book by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee. It will air on PBS as a three-night, six hour documentary. I was fortunate to attend a pre-screening of this important documentary last week.
Hope and Inspiration ~
The documentary, “Winning by Living” was made about a local woman, Michelle Kirlew, in conjunction with our local PBS affiliate’s screening of the Ken Burns documentary. Michelle has pancreatic cancer. She is a wife and mother and at a very young age found out about her diagnosis. She is aware that death is likely very soon for her and is dealing not only with her illness and the side effects but all the emotional responsibilities that come with facing death. She had the courage to contribute to science by participating in a clinical trial for pancreatic cancer but ultimately had to switch to a different treatment to fight the disease. There were several in the audience, present company included, who were emotionally touched by this woman’s story. Her physician, Dr. Emad Elquza, sat in front of a full audience, looked directly at Michelle who was there in attendance with her family and stated, “You are my hero.” This was a true testament to the importance and value of the patient-doctor relationship. It was obvious they were team members.
One of the strongest statements that she shared with the audience that evening is that she was a very happy and content person before she received her cancer diagnosis. She refused to let cancer take that away from her, thus the title, “Living by Winning”.
Breakthrough and Optimism
I have not read “The Emperor of All Maladies” but have read other reviews and the overriding words that are written about the book and subsequent documentary are “breakthrough” and “hope”. I will be watching this documentary with that in mind. We cannot walk into a room without someone having been touched by cancer either personally or through a family or friend. We have been fighting this war a long time and it’s uplifting to know that Dr. Mukherjee has written about the optimism, advances and success that have been made. I am very excited to meet him in our hometown this week as he will be doing a book signing.
Learning Through History
“And the film does exactly that. It shows us how we got here, and what happens next, and that’s crucial.”
Hi Terri,
Thank you for sharing about Michelle and yes, her physician’s statement was indeed a testament to a very special partnership. As you know, I watched the PBS doc and really liked it. Was it perfect? No, but it didn’t sugar-coat cancer. It must have been wonderful to meet Siddhartha Mukherjee in person. He seems to be genuine, caring and of course, very knowledgeable. I hope you do read his book. It’s a good read, though it was a difficult one for me to get through for various reasons. Thank you for directing to me to your post.
Nancy,
I like your comment, “it didn’t sugar-coat cancer”. This is a tough topic for anyone to handle, doctors, patients, care-givers and survivors alike. I am encouraged to purchase the book and read it after your thorough and honest review. I think as survivors it would be a frequently visited reference book, but as you say, difficult at times to get through. I always enjoy reading your posts on your blog and look forward to more sharing.