All Cancers Are Alike But

I Think The Way We Think About Cancer, The Way We Treat Cancer, Has Dramatically Changed In The Last Century. There Is An Enormous Amount Of Options That A Physician Can Provide Today, Right Down From Curing Patients, Treating Patients Or Providing Patients With Psychic Solace Or Pain Relief.

I Had Seen Cancer At A More Cellular Level As A Researcher. The First Time I Entered The Cancer Ward, My First Instinct Was To Withdraw From What Was Going On - The Complexity, The Death. It Was A Very Bleak Time.

One Swallow Is A Coincidence, But Two Swallows Make Summer.

I Wanted To Explore Cancer Not Just Biologically, But Metaphorically. The Idea That Tuberculosis In The 19th Century Possessed The Same Kind Of Frightening And Decaying Quality Was Very Interesting To Me, And It Seemed That One Could Explore The Idea That Every Age Defined Its Own Illness.

I Began Wondering, Can One Really Write A Biography Of An Illness? But I Found Myself Thinking Of Cancer As This Character That Has Lived For 4,000 Years, And I Wanted To Know What Was Its Birth, What Is Its Mind, Its Personality, Its Psyche?