In April: Local and National Community Conversations about Cancer

*PLEASE NOTE CHANGE
IN EVENT DATE AND LOCATION*

Rhode Island PBS, in partnership with the American Cancer Society, presents LUNG CANCER | a community conversation, a live panel discussion televised on Thursday, April 23* at 8 p.m. at the Rhode Island PBS studios*, 50 Park Lane, Providence, RI. 

The television program will start with screening selected segments from the Ken Burns film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies. Local experts then take a deeper look and connect this world issue to our local community in a panel discussion that includes tobacco use, smoking cessation, lung cancer, and the rising costs of health care. We'll also take questions from the audience.

You are invited to be in the studio audience from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Arrive at 7 p.m. for light refreshments and light conversation with our panelists and show host, Margie O'Brien. At 7:30, we move into the studio to prepare for live broadcast from 8 p.m. - 9 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public, but audience seating in the studio is limited. Advance registration is required. 

The television special LUNG CANCER | a community conversation is part of  

SCREENINGS | community conversations about cancer

an initiative of Rhode Island PBS, American Cancer Society, made possible by CVS Health.

Watch the full Ken Burns film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies on three consecutive Thursdays at 9 p.m. on April 9, 16 and 23. 

Extending the conversation, Rhode Island PBS presents additional programs about cancer and living with dignity in the face of terminal illness from 8 to 9 p.m. on April 16 and 30. This is the full schedulee of cancer program in April:

April 9

9 p.m. – Ken Burns Film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Part 1

Magic Bullets - The story of cancer and the efforts to find a cure begins with the work of cancer researcher Sidney Farber (1903-73), who, in the late 1940s, introduced the modern era of chemotherapy. Also: the contemporary story of a 14-month-old girl battling T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

April 16

8 p.m. – What Love Is– The Duke Pathfinders 50

Fifty women from North Carolina with incurable breast cancer heroically endure an experimental medical protocol to prove that there is a better way of life -- and death -- for cancer patients and their families everywhere. Read more about the film here.

9 p.m. – Ken Burns Film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Part 2

The Blind Men and the Elephant - The launch of the "war on cancer" by President Nixon in 1971 is recalled. While rapid strides were made in understanding cancer, the research produced few advancements in treatment until the late 1990s. Also: the contemporary story of surgical oncologist Lori Wilson, who was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in both breasts in 2013.

April 23

8 p.m. – LUNG CANCER | a community conversation

This Rhode Island PBS live broadcast features a local panel discussion focused on issues raised in the Ken Burns film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, taped with a live studio audience. 

9 p.m. – Ken Burns Film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Part 3

Finding the Achilles Heel - Optimism that the mystery of the malignant cell has been solved fades due to the layers of complexity and defenses of cancer, leading many to focus on prevention and early detection. However, by the 2010s, new avenues of attack are uncovered, including the possibility of harnessing the human immune system in the battle. Also: two pioneers of immunotherapy treatments, a 60-year-old melanoma patient and a 6-year-old leukemia patient, share their stories.

April 30
8 p.m. – Behind the Ribbon
“Our Heroes” looks at the role of physical appearance in breast cancer treatment and survivorship. Footage from the 2012 Survivor Fashion Show is featured. Behind the Ribbon is the title of an original nonfiction television series produced by the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation and Jai Consulting Group. These short documentaries feature the stories of patients, survivors, and those who have lost their lives to breast cancer - an illness that will affect one in six Rhode Island women.
8:30 p.m. – Living With Dignity
This Rhode Island PBS production explores the local perspective of strength and determination to find balance and happiness while facing a terminal illness.
9 p.m. – Cancer: A Conversation
A companion program to the three-part documentary Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Katie Couric, co-founder of “Stand Up To Cancer,” extends the conversation when she interviews Ken Burns; Sharon Percy Rockefeller, President and CEO of WETA and a cancer survivor; and Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the book upon which the film is based.

Updated: April 4, 2015
Updated April 7, 2015

What Love Is: The Duke Pathfinders 50

Somewhere between the successes of cancer treatment and its limitations is the person – the solitary individual whose medical needs may be tended, but whose needs for emotional support are overshadowed by the enormous, cumbersome, and unrelenting machine called cancer treatment. How does one navigate this foreign land with its whole new language and unfamiliar customs to find quiet peace and healing? What Love Is: The Duke Pathfinders 50 offers direction. The documentary, by filmmaker Theodore Bogosian, premieres on Rhode Island PBS on Thursday, April 16 at 8 p.m. Rhode Island PBS is proud to bring this award-winning documentary to the national stage as the presenting station.

The documentary explores the lives of 50 women undergoing treatment for breast cancer at the Duke Cancer Center in Durham, North Carolina, and their experience with the Pathfinders cancer support program. Created by social worker Tina Staley in her hometown of Aspen, Colorado, the Pathfinders program – a philosophy, really – provides cancer patients with beneficial skills, such as visualization and meditation, essential to successfully cope with a life-threatening illness. Each patient is paired with a social worker who acts as a guide, and together, they embark as “pathfinders” toward discovering the patient’s own sense of balance, spirituality, support, and self-care, in an effort to alleviate emotional suffering. The Duke study sought to quantify the medical health benefits of the Pathfinders psychosocial support program during cancer treatment. Those groundbreaking results were found.

The film stands out from other medical documentaries thanks to the director’s vision in creating a film that is equal parts poignant and informative.

"I decided to focus on the Pathfinders study because I felt I had seen other documentaries about cancer – especially breast cancer – and they all seemed to be the same film," said Bogosian. "What makes this documentary different is the blend of scientific fact and personal communication, especially nonverbal communication."

The women involved in the Pathfinders program were all diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and agreed to participate in a two-year Pathfinders trial during their treatment at Duke High-Risk Breast Clinic. Along with candid interviews with patients and their families, the film shows sessions between Pathfinders, demonstrating how the patients and social workers apply the Pathfinders’ seven pillars of personal recovery to improve the daily lives of the cancer sufferers.

Bogosian found it challenging to balance the patient testimonials with the scientific achievements and goals of the Pathfinders program, admitting that the film was not complete until it included the sermon by Reverend Doctor Sam Wells, dean of the Chapel at Duke University. The sermon was given during the nondenominational service that commemorated the end of the study. The service brought together the surviving study participants and their families, the loved ones of since-deceased participants, and the medical and social service professionals who cared for them during the study period.

Woven throughout the film, the sermon by Reverend Wells becomes itself a map with guideposts and road markers on our path through the film. Reverend Wells gently reveals the loss of his own mother to breast cancer when he was young, and offers an uplifting message of hope that reverberates throughout the entire film, and echoes the Pathfinders’ approach to healing through spirituality and unity.

"Death isn't the worst thing that can happen," Wells said. "The worst thing is isolation."

Pathfinders dispels the sense of isolation by accompanying people through the bleakest experiences in their life: death and bereavement.

Reinforcing the notion that the journey is at least as valuable as the destination, the Pathfinders seek the quiet place of love beyond the chaos and fear of illness, and define What Love Is.