Visible Ink
When I was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago, here’s how I described getting the news:
This, by the way, is how you find out:
You make an appointment at a prestigious teaching hospital in a major East Coast city. You see a couple of stone-faced receptionists, then a medical technician, then a nurse, then a student who looks about 14, then a physician’s assistant. Then, when you are out in the hallway, yelling into your cell phone that apparently there ARE NO actual DOCTORS in this prestigious institution on this particular day, someone makes a call and then hands you the name and address of the ear, nose and throat specialist in the next building. Six hours later, the chairman of the ENT department looks at your neck for 90 seconds, a couple of pathologists stick your lump with a whole bunch of needles, then the top dog comes back in and cheerfully announces, “Good news! It looks like lymphoma!”
This is a little confusing, because your surgeon friend, Dr. Lisa, told you good news would be “a reactive lymph node,” which sounds kind of the same, but isn’t exactly what you think you just heard from this specialist guy who has now launched into this hazy string of words that includes “surgery,” “chemo,” “radiation,” and “not a death sentence.”
“Makes you glad you didn’t get the ‘bad news,’” a friend would later remark.
(Read the rest of the story here.)
Writing can be cathartic, stress-reducing, and empowering. These are some of the core beliefs of Visible Ink, a writing program for cancer patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in which I’ve had the privilege of being a mentor for the past several years. This month Visible Ink held its 8th annual staged reading of works by participants in the program, performed by Broadway actors, singers, and dancers. For a sample of their extraordinary honesty and creativity, check out these video clips.
I’m proud that two of the writers I work with—both brave young women—were published in the 2016 Visible Ink Anthology.
If you’re interested in volunteering or donating, you can read more about Visible Ink at mskcc.org.