Friday, January 29, 2016

LET'S OVERTHROW THE EMPEROR

Linda poses beside a superb example of a Yorkshire Dales "dry stone wall"
 
I am re-reading Siddhartha Mukherjee’s book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.  I sleep very poorly these days, and so often find myself reading serious stuff at 2:00 am, waiting for some pill to take effect.  Last night I ran on something I really want to share with you.
First, the book:  I rated it very highly the first time through.  You could check my evaluation here:
http://ljb-quiltcutie.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-cancer-researcher-wannabes-bookshelf.html
On a second reading, I like it even more.  This may be because I know a bit more about cancer now, and also because I remember where the gruesome parts are located, and how to duck.  But, anyway: this is a great book and I hope all of you get a chance to read it.  Now as to what got me all excited in the middle of last night:
Three important figures, co-conspirators in the campaign that led up to the Nixon era War on Cancer:
Mary Woodward Lasker:  Rich socialite, friend of everyone of significance in politics, accomplished add executive, lobbyist at a time when lobbying was rare.  Ms Lasker was quietly irresistible and absolutely dedicated to the task of eliminating cancer from the list of human woes.
Sydney Farber:  Oncologist and early researcher into the potentials of what we now call chemotherapy.  Farber was a maverick amongst oncologists, but a perfect partner to Mary Lasker.
Lister Hill:  Representative, then Senator from Alabama.  Son of a medical doctor, he was active in legislative matters concerning medicine.
So, after 250 words of introduction, all I want to do in this blog is to pass on some words by Lister on how something like our “Moonshot” ought to be conducted.  It is from Mukherjee, p. 107.  I couldn’t agree more.
….. I am aware of some alarm in the scientific community that singling out cancer for…….a direct presidential initiative will somehow lead to the eventual dismantling of the National Institutes of Health.  I do not share these feelings. ……. We are at war with an insidious, relentless foe.  We rightly demand clear, decisive action – not endless committee meetings, interminable reviews and tired justifications of the status quo.      Lister Hill, as reprinted by Mukherjee.
Amen, brother!


5 comments:

  1. A properly assembled dry stone wall is a thing of beauty – almost a work of art. However, being the builder of dry stone walls apparently is not a sought-after profession, as suggested by this poem I read somewhere:

    I am a dry stone waller.
    All day I dry stone wall.
    Of all appalling callings.
    Dry stone walling’s worst of all.

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  2. It must be especially challenging to be a dry stone waller in an earthquake zone...

    Wish me luck on Tuesday, Myrl.

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    1. As for dry stone walling in earthquake zones -- this is why you see them in Yorkshire, but never in SLO County.

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  3. Marvelous quotation used as a chapter heading in Mukherjee’s book: “Cancer therapy is like beating a dog with a stick to get rid of its fleas”

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