KEN BURNS RE CANCER AND PROGRESS

Rocquie said:

The Film

Thank you, Nancy. This is a very exciting upcoming PBS film being released in the spring. It is based on the pulitzer prize winning book, THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES: A Biography of Cancer by Siddartha Mukherjee, a hemotologist/oncologist.  I read the book a few months ago. It is fascinating and discusses the first documented history of cancer, in ancient Egypt. I especially enjoyed learning that much, much of today's progress and treatment has been based on research of blood related cancers, simply because there was no surgical solution, as in solid, organ cancers. 

Here is a clickable link to a trailer for the film: The Emperor of All Maladies.

Best,

Rocquie

 

Hi Rocquie:

Thank you for the link to "The Emperor of All Maladies."  I have been meaning to look at the clip, and just did.  Sounds very interesting and hopeful.  Ken Burns always does a great job.

Cancer has been like a shadow in my life, since I lost my Father to that disease when I was five and my brother not yet two.    He had cancer of the thyroid and lived about six months after learning he had that disease.  As  I think the clip mentioned, years ago people were afraid to tell someone that they had cancer, and I think that may have happened to my Father.  My family was living in Pennsylvania and he visited the Lahey Clinic in (I think) Boston.   Still there, according to a listing.  I don't know the details, but my mother said that my Father had to "corner" Dr. Layhey to find out what was wrong.  He got the answer:  cancer of the thyroid.  

My Father was president of F. H. Levy, a printing ink company in Philadelphia.  No longer exists, it appears.   He was a chemist and inventor.  My mother said that sometimes he had nosebleeds from working with chemicals, apparently.    He wanted to do research and find a cure for cancer.

Nancy