Cancer Crossings
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Cancer Crossings A volume in the series The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work Edited by Suzanne Gordon and Sioban Nelson For a list of books in the series, visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu. Also by Tim Wendel Nonfi ction Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball, and America, Forever Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time Buffalo, Home of the Braves Far from Home: Latino Baseball Players in America The New Face of Baseball: The One-Hundred-Year Rise and Triumph of Latinos in America’s Favorite Sport Going for the Gold: How the U.S Olympic Hockey Team Won at Lake Placid Fiction Castro’s Curveball Habana Libre Red Rain Books for young readers Night on Manitou Island My Man Stan Cancer Crossings A Brother, His Doctors, and the Quest for a Cure to Childhood Leukemia Tim Wendel ILR Press An imprint of Cornell University Press Ithaca and London Copyright © 2018 by Tim Wendel All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2018 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Wendel, Tim, author. Title: Cancer crossings : a brother, his doctors, and the quest for a cure to childhood leukemia / Tim Wendel. Description: Ithaca : ILR Press, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2018. | Series: The culture and politics of health care work | Includes bibliographical references. Identifi ers: LCCN 2017034806 (print) | LCCN 2017035540 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501711046 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501711053 (ret) | ISBN 9781501711039 | ISBN 9781501711039 (cloth : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Wendel, Eric Gordon, 1962–1973. | Wendel, Tim. | Leukemia in children—Patients—New York (State)—Olcott— Biography. | Lymphoblastic leukemia in children. | Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Classifi cation: LCC RJ416.L4 (ebook) | LCC RJ416.L4 W46 2018 (print) | DDC 618.92/99419—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017034806 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fi bers. For further information, visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu. For my children, Sarah and Chris, and my wife, Jacqueline, for their love and support. For my parents, Jane and Peter, who persevered with style and grace. For my brother Eric and the other courageous people he found at Roswell Park. And what you are growing, here, and there, and over there, are little moments, and the little moments make your memories, and the memories make a life that can’t be taken away from you by anyone or anything, not other people’s fi ckleness, not even death. Joshua Ferris, “The Abandonment” I made myself remember each thing he did, the way he turned his head, his way of saying things. It was as though I knew it wouldn’t be for long. He was from another world—he was a blessing too great for me. Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong To see the moon so silver going west, So ladily serene because so dead, So closely tailed by her consort of stars, So far above the feverish, shivering Nightwatchman pressed against the falling glass. L. E. Sissman, “December 27, 1966” Foreword hen three-year-old Eric Wendel was diagnosed with acute W lymphoblastic leukemia in 1966, doctors gave his parents the grim verdict that he would survive only a year—eighteen months at best. Despite the persistence of researchers across the nation, medicine had failed to gain a foothold against this deadly and swiftly progressing disease, which had a mortality rate of 96 percent. Cancer Crossings tells the story of the physician-scientists whose bold new approach to clinical research ultimately turned that sta- tistic on its head. But there is another side to this story, one that is deeply personal for author Tim Wendel, because Eric Wendel was his younger brother. That perspective adds depth to the book as Wendel weaves together the science behind the evolution of groundbreaking leu- kemia treatments and his family’s struggle to cope with the uncer- tainty of Eric’s future. Tim Wendel’s skill in writing narrative nonfi ction makes Cancer Crossings a compelling read for laypeople and medical viii Foreword professionals alike. The book serves as both a loving tribute to Eric and a salute to the extraordinary physicians who tried to save him. Martin Brecher, MD Former Chief, Hematology/Oncology Division, Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo Chair Emeritus of Pediatrics, Roswell Park Cancer Institute Cancer Crossings 1 ometime after eight in the evening, with bedtime often come S and gone, Dad would stand at the bottom of the stairs and sing out, “I’ll beat cha.” You would have thought it was a secret com- mand from a pirate movie airing on late-night TV or a cowboy cry from Roy Rogers or Rawhide. No matter, for the younger kids would come running, eager to beat Dad in another race upstairs to bed. There were maybe a dozen steps to the old farmhouse’s open staircase, and night after night my father would take a short lead only to slow down, almost in slow motion, as he approached the top. Sometimes Dad hung on to win, other times he faltered enough in the stretch for everyone to edge him at the wire. Who- ever won would shout out, “I beat cha.” Soon enough, the thrill of victory blurred into one word —“Ibeecha!” That became the name of our fi rst bona fi de boat, the one that we sailed together on the inland sea named Lake Ontario. No mat- ter that other boat owners in Olcott, New York, dubbed our ves- sel “The Anthill,” due to all the kids swarming on board. We were Ibeecha , fi lled with confi dence and expectations as we learned to keep an eye on the far horizon. We had so many boats over the years: the Penguin dinghy we tried to sail on the Erie Canal; the 24-foot Shark that fi rst bore us 2 Tim Wendel across 40 miles of open water to Toronto; the Cal 27, with its pop- up cabin top, which excelled in light air and sailing downwind, making Dad competitive in the local and Lake Yacht Racing Asso- ciation races. There were the Cal 3-30 that sported lots of space below deck, including an oven, and the C&C 29, which was better suited for racing than family cruising, much to my mother’s regret. Cancer Crossings 3 Every man has a sweet tooth, and a sailboat, specifi cally a gleaming fi berglass job, was my father’s. Looking back on it all, my brother Eric shared this affi nity for boats more than the rest of us. He and Dad loved to watch crafts of all sizes out on the water, under full sail, looking like so many giant birds in fl ight. In November 1962, only three days before Thanksgiving, my mother gave birth to another boy—Eric Gordon Wendel. Often parents name their children after family members or dear friends. But Eric was named, in a fashion, after Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen. “When Mom and I were young, we were fascinated with archi- tecture and the architects of the time,” Dad said. “My favorite, and I think Mom’s too, was Eero Saarinen. It all began when I learned he and his dad, Eliel, had designed Kleinhans Music Hall in Buf- falo. I liked the clean, simple lines of the building that gave it a stately look, and its wood paneling and brick gave it warmth at the same time.” Saarinen also designed the St. Louis Arch, the TWA terminal at JFK Airport, and the Dulles Airport terminal during his short career. With its glass walls, grand open fl oor, and sweeping, winglike roof, the Dulles terminal stands only 10 miles from my home in northern Virginia, and Saarinen called it “the best thing I’ve ever done.” Dad said that Saarinen’s approach was “to let each building ‘tell him what it should be.’ He was beyond imposing his ego, his brand, on the building.” In 1961, Saarinen died at the age of fi fty-one in Ann Arbor, where he was overseeing a new music building for the University of Michigan. Saarinen died while undergoing an operation for a brain tumor. Eleven years later, his wife, Aline, who was an art critic and television journalist, died of the same condition. 4 Tim Wendel Eero Saarinen’s death “hit me pretty hard,” Dad said, and he wanted to remember his architectural hero in some way. So when Eric was born, he and Mom briefl y considered Eero and Eliel but soon decided those would be diffi cult names for any kid to deal with. Then they discovered that Eero had a son named Eric. That’s what they decided to name my brother. At fi rst, Eric Gordon Wendel appeared to be like the rest of us. He enjoyed being outside, in motion, always up to something. He laughed as hard as the rest of us at Quick Draw McGraw and Huckleberry Hound cartoons.