Public Radio International

Wisconsin Public Radio

LIVING WITH CANCER

Program 05-03-20-A

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When Meg Gaines was diagnosed with terminal cancer, her doctor told her to go home and think about the quality, not the quantity, of her days. Instead she grabbed him by the bow-tie and said "I don't think you understand. I intend to live." Today Meg Gaines is helping other cancer patients stand up for the rights – and their lives. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, how to live - and live well - even with cancer.

SEGMENT 1:

Cancer patient Katie Paul has ovarian cancer and describes how the disease has changed her life. Also, Dr. Mark Clanton is Deputy Director for Cancer Care Delivery Systems at the National Cancer Institute. He talks with Jim Fleming about new directions in cancer research and the new targeted treatment drugs. And, Meg Gaines runs the Center for Patient Partnerships at the University of Wisconsin. She is an attorney who was diagnosed in 1994 with terminal, inoperable ovarian cancer. She is now cancer free. Gaines talks with Anne Strainchamps about how she helps patients fight the disease and the healthcare system.

SEGMENT 2:

Pete Daly is a melanoma patient who talks about living with cancer. Also, Rachel Naomi Remen is a physician and the co-founder of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program in Northern California. She's the author of "Kitchen Table Wisdom" and "My Grandfather's Blessings." Remen tells Steve Paulson it's important to treat the whole person, not just the disease and says she has no idea what happens at the end of life.

SEGMENT 3:

Paul Stoller is an anthropologist who studied sorcery with the Songhay people in Niger. Years later he developed lymphoma and only then did he understand some of what his teacher had been trying to teach him. Stoller tells Steve Paulson about the links between cancer and sorcery. His book is "Stranger in the Village of the Sick."

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 05-03-20-A.

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Books:

• Rachel Naomi Remen, My Grandfather's Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging (Riverhead)
  
• Paul Stoller, Stranger in the Village of the Sick: A Memoir of Cancer, Sorcery, and Healing (Beacon)

Music:

• Music

Distribution dates:

week of 05/21/2006 - hour 1 week of 03/20/2005 - hour 1

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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