(Editor’s note: This is the text of the speech I gave December 9 at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as part of the kick-off for 3-in-3: The Campaign to Cure NET Cancer. The subheads were not included in the speech. They are used here as graphic devices to break up the page.)
Introduction of the night’s program
My name is Harry Proudfoot. I am the founder and president of Walking with Jane and a member of the Visiting Committee for Gastrointestinal Cancers here at Dana-Farber.
I want to welcome all of you to this kick-off of 3-in-3:The Campaign to Cure NET Cancer—a campaign we hope will be a real game-changer for all of you here—and for all NET cancer patients and their families everywhere.
…I dream of the day…
Later in the program, we will hear from Dr. Matt Kulke, the head of the Program in Neuroendocrine and Carcinoid Tumors and Dr. Jennifer Chan, who is the clinical trials director for the program. They will talk about the science and the concrete goals our support makes possible.
Jane’s story
But tonight is a truly bittersweet moment for me. Five years ago tonight I was in a hospital room with my wife. She’d gone into a coma about 10 that morning—a coma induced by her fourth and final carcinoid crisis following surgery to replace the valves in the right side of her heart that her cancer had destroyed.
…a real game-changer…
Just before 6 p.m., Jane regained consciousness for a few minutes. I had to tell her there was nothing more her doctors could do—that we were taking her off the machines that were helping her breathe, taking out the feeding tube, and shutting down her pacemaker so that she could finally die.
“You’re going home to the garden,” I told her. She closed her eyes and I kissed her forehead. “Good night, my warrior princess,” I said. That’s the last thing I know she heard me say. I read to her, I sang to her, I talked to her, and I held her hand—but how much she was aware of after that….
The warrior princess
Jane was a warrior against ignorance all her life. She taught science—as I taught English—in a school that educated the working class children of a small town. We stayed there because we believed they deserved as good an education as anyone else got.
…she could finally die.
And when Jane was diagnosed with NET cancer, she became a warrior against it. She was determined to be the first person to beat it, but she was equally determined to end our ignorance of the disease and how it worked. She faced her life and her death with a singular kind of courage.
She died just before 8 p.m the next night. There was a slight catch in her breath—and she was gone.
Warrior days
Two days after we buried her, I went back to work. I was a teacher—and my students needed me. But Jane and I had decided well before she was diagnosed that we would retire from teaching that June—and I kept that promise.
There was a slight catch in her breath…
But I had made another promise—that if she killed her advanced disease the only way anyone ever had—by dying and taking it with her—that the battle against it would not end for me until it was dead.
I went to Seattle to be with my family that Christmas. On the plane out, I drafted my first NET cancer pamphlet. On the plane home, I drafted my plan for attacking the funding and awareness issues that had made Jane’s death inevitable—and that still plague our efforts today.
Warrior work
On the night of what should have been our retirement dinner, I spoke at the local Relay for Life and walked through the night in Jane’s memory.
But I had made another promise…
That fall, I walked the length of the Boston Marathon course for the first time. I raised nearly $5,000 for NET cancer research—far more than I expected. In December, I pledged $100,000 over five years to support the small but growing program at DFCI. Tonight, I make the final payment on that pledge—and renew that pledge for the next five years.
But I don’t just put my money where my mouth is—I put my labor there as well. I’ve captained four Jimmy Fund Walk teams that have raised an additional $175,000 over the last four years. I’ve put together pamphlets, a website for Walking with Jane that averages nearly 2000 visits a month, and served the NET cancer community in every way I’ve been able to think of—including asking everyone I know for money.
The dream
I do that in the hope that my friend Jillian will see her two four-year-old sons graduate from college and dandle their grandchildren on her knee. I do that in the hope my friend Andrew will have the same experience with his pre-teen daughter. I do that so my friend Kara can dance at her teenage son’s children’s weddings.
…I don’t just put my money where my mouth is…
And I dream of the day I can stand at Jane’s grave and say, “It’s over—it’s dead. No one ever has to go through what you did for 30 years—the insomnia, the stomach pain, the bloating, the diarrhea—NET cancer is well and truly dead—and we played our part.”
I truly hope you will all join with me in making those dreams a reality.
Thank you.
Contribute to 3-in-3: The Campaign to Cure NET Cancer.
Introduction of Jennifer Chan, MD
Now, it is my honor to introduce Jane’s oncologist, the director of clinical trials for the Program in Neuroendocrine and Carcinoid Tumors, Jennifer Chan, who holds a very special place in my heart.
I can’t speak to Jen’s feelings when she first met Jane. But for Jane, it was as though she were meeting her sister. Jane was a very private person. It took me years to get where Jen was after two minutes.
But Jen is a very special kind of person. Jane was exhausted that night. We were in bed reading at 8:45. Then the phone rang. It was not a telemarketer—it was Jen—and she had a plan.
When Jane was in the hospital, Jen spent part of her lunch break with us seemingly every day. On Thanksgiving, she put the turkey in the oven and came to see us.
And on the last day of Jane’s life, she sat with us—both during her lunch and before she left for the day. She said she saw patients in clinic that day, but her heart was in the room with Jane—and with me.
I could tell you about Jen’s background, her colleges, degrees and accomplishments—but the most important thing I can tell you is she is wonderful, intelligent and creative human being who brings love and passion to whatever she does.
Ladies and gentlemen, my very dear and very good friend, Dr. Jennifer Chan.
(Editor’s note: Please help spread the word on this campaign by sharing this speech and the press release that will follow shortly. When the slides from Jen and Matt’s presentations become available, I will pass those along as well. Contribute to 3-in-3: The Campaign to Cure NET Cancer.)
