Let’s open up a time capsule from 1994. I’ve been saving this short film I saw recently for today, World Cancer Day. It’s warm and beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. It highlights how very personal cancer is, and how intimately and ruthlessly and maliciously it steals from us.
People say I’ve beaten cancer. Twice, in fact. (Actually it’s three times, but who’s counting.) I have not beaten cancer. I did nothing. I was merely a patient. I have an entire team of doctors to thank for the last ten years of my life. Heading the list are the doctors who performed surgery on me. In 2003 the honors were done by Ronald Lewis M.D., professor of surgery and section chief of urology at (then) the Medical College of Georgia. Then in 2006 it was D. Scott Lind M.D., currently chairman of the Department of Surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. Back in ’06 he was chief of the Section of Surgical Oncology and Jarrell Distinguished Professor in the Department of Surgery and the surgical director of the adult operating room at the MCG Health System. Clearly I had the best. No wonder I’m still vertical. My radiation and chemotherapy were under the direction of Dr. Asha Nayak, an outstanding oncologist with more than two decades of experience. Thank you to them all, and to Dr. Brent Limbaugh, Dr. Edward Kruse, and the lovely Dr. Angela Gucwa. I owe my life to these people.
And now, on with the show.
“From 1994” Short Film from Casey Warren | MINDCASTLE on Vimeo.
VIEWING TIP: once the film begins playing you can click on the 4-arrow symbol in the lower right corner to enlarge the screen.