“The best thing that ever happened to me was cancer...

Uncle Remus

Raconteur / can't name 'em Jeb
Joined
Jul 23, 2006
HBO’s documentary, “The Education of Dee Dee Ricks,” follows the journey of a woman battling breast cancer, while attempting to raise millions of dollars to help treat other breast cancer patients without resources.

After undergoing a double mastectomy herself, Dee Dee Ricks teamed up with Dr. Harold Freeman of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention in Harlem. Ricks personally donated over $1 million and has raised over $10 million for their cause.

“The best thing that ever happened to me was cancer, because it opened up to all this suffering that’s going on in this world, and I want to make a difference,” Ricks told “Nightline” anchor Cynthia McFadden.

The documentary premieres on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 8:30 p.m. ET on HBO.

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Though she’s surprised at how well the first session goes (“It was so easy, it didn’t hurt, it didn’t burn,” she tells the camera that’s leading her onto the sidewalk out of the upscale facility, “The nurses found the veins right away!”), a couple of weeks later, she’s feeling effects. Medical bills begin to bother her—not that she can’t pay, but that insurance companies are deceitful as to what they might cover and what they finally will—and her mood is affected (“I’m in chemo meltdown,” she moans, her face pale and eyes bloodshot).

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Anyone else gonna watch this?

My aunt died from breast cancer years ago 'n I remember quite a few of her stories. I can still see the tears in her eyes when she'd talk about how many poor women would have to stop treatment due to lack of funds.
 
As a survivor myself, I'll pass. Cancer was not the best thing to happen to me.
 
No way. I watched two people I loved dearly suffer for years and finally die from cancer.
 
I doubt that I will watch. Watching people suffer is not my idea of entertainment.

I do agree with the woman's statement, but for a different reason. I can't even imagine how different my life would be today if I had not had breast cancer. I made some major decisions due to my illness that I probably would not have made if I had not had cancer. I am very happy with the way my life turned out. It might not have turned out as well if I had not needed to step back and make some major choices of where I wanted my life to go.
 


No for me too. I've been battling for 6 years; I've never been interested in sharing the details.
 
As a survivor myself, I'll pass. Cancer was not the best thing to happen to me.

Agreed, being treated for a double cancer diagnosis as I write this, been through two major surgeries followed by two painful recoveries. Just started an 18 month chemo regiment. My life has been turned upside down, endless anxious moments, many worries, some tears, it is far, far, far from being the best thing that has ever happened to me, right now it is the worst........
 
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Link

Anyone else gonna watch this?

My aunt died from breast cancer years ago 'n I remember quite a few of her stories. I can still see the tears in her eyes when she'd talk about how many poor women would have to stop treatment due to lack of funds.

Good luck UR. I posted a thread asking for some information about resources, when a fellow member of my church was battling cancer. The overwhelming response I got was, the man was stupid for not having health insurance. Because he was the working poor evidently he should have sacrificed and found a way to afford insurance. Honestly I do not find this site as one of the places compassionate to those less fortunate.
Just my opinion.
 


Good luck UR. I posted a thread asking for some information about resources, when a fellow member of my church was battling cancer. The overwhelming response I got was, the man was stupid for not having health insurance. Because he was the working poor evidently he should have sacrificed and found a way to afford insurance. Honestly I do not find this site as one of the places compassionate to those less fortunate.
Just my opinion.

I haven't seen the documentary yet, but I was intrigued by this:

Ricks will be increasingly “affected” when she meets and becomes friends with one of Dr. Freeman’s patients, Cynthia Dodson, diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer at 41.

The relationship between Dodson and Ricks, initially represented in some showy embraces and pledges of mutual understanding and appreciation, ends up taking place mostly off-screen, in Ricks’ descriptions and in phone calls. Dodson’s situation is shaped by her lack of money: she and her father Hugh struggle to pay for treatment (one chemo pill, she notes, costs $137). Her condition worsens and Ricks becomes, in her own words, “her person,” the one who might have to “make decisions.” (This despite the fact that Hugh appears early in the film and goes with her to doctors’ appointments.) Whatever you see or don’t see of the friendship, it is key to the film’s project, that is, to show Ricks’ education.

I'm not well versed in insurance matters despite the fact I have insurance ('n the luck of good health), but I can tell ya my head just about spin off when I received a bill for $13,000 for my deceased partner's hospital bill many years ago. And she had what's called good insurance.
 
Well, we watched this documentary last night 'n both these women had tremendous courage 'n had attitude been the drivin' force, both would have survived, but of course, the woman with no insurance (she was employed) wasn't diagnosed in time.

The contrast that really stood out to me was the woman with insurance got the reconstructive surgery while the non-insured woman had to settle for the cutlet bra inserts. Well, that 'n which one didn't survive.
 
I might watch that documentary on demand sometime. To tell the truth, I am just about emotionally fatigued being around so many folks I know and love dealing with various forms of cancer right now -some well insured, and some not.
For example, one of my good friends has been fighting leukemia for 18 months now and has been in the hospital for the better part of that time. The complications from the disease and treatments keep compounding upon each other, and he can't make much progress. I think whatever his insurance is covering won't touch what his (and his family's) responsibility to pay will finally end up being.
 
I can see how any major life altering event could be turned positive (making lemonade out of lemons), and I'm glad this woman has turned such terible thing into a positive for herself (and others if she's raising money). But I've lost and am losing too many family and friends to cancer to say it's the best thing that's happened to anyone. Nasty disease (no mater what form of cancer you're talking about).
 
I find nothing great in cancer. Sure it changed my life, but not for the better. I lost my mom at 17, and I wonder everyday how different would my life be if she were still here? I think I would be a lot happier if she were still here. I think my life would be a lot better, I would definatley be in a better profession, and I feel like I was forced to make quick decisions out of desperation that all turned out to hurt me in the end and I wouldn't of had to make those decisions if she was still here.

I am glad she is raising money for the cause, but because she states it's the best thing to happen to her, I just don't get that.
 
I find nothing great in cancer. Sure it changed my life, but not for the better. I lost my mom at 17, and I wonder everyday how different would my life be if she were still here? I think I would be a lot happier if she were still here. I think my life would be a lot better, I would definatley be in a better profession, and I feel like I was forced to make quick decisions out of desperation that all turned out to hurt me in the end and I wouldn't of had to make those decisions if she was still here.

I am glad she is raising money for the cause, but because she states it's the best thing to happen to her, I just don't get that.

I would think it opened the door to settin' new priorities, I mean, when you're faced with life or death, isn't that one does?
 
I would think it opened the door to settin' new priorities, I mean, when you're faced with life or death, isn't that one does?

I think it could depending on the person. I do some fund-raising for the ACS and have friends that had cancer so I come in contact with a lot of survivors. Some are more philosophical than others. Lance Armstrong has said many times that had it not been for cancer he doesn't think he would have won one let alone seven tours. Sometime you need to come close to losing something to really appreciate it and that includes life.
 

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