How does a cancer diagnosis affect one’s spirituality? This will be the focus of a Conversation about Cancer being held Thursday, March 26, at 6:30 p.m. at Restoration Baptist Church, 1502 N. New Jersey Street, Indianapolis. At this community conversation, which is free and open to the public, cancer patients and survivors, and spiritual care providers will discuss how their religious and spiritual realities shifted with diagnosis and during treatment, and will also explore the roles of family and spiritual counselors in integrating spirituality with treatment.
This conversation, the final in a series hosted by WFYI Public Media and Sound Medicine Radio Hour, is part of a month-long focus on cancer in anticipation of the Ken Burns-produced documentary “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies,” which airs on WFYI Public Television beginning March 30.
Panelists for the community conversation, Spirituality and Cancer, are: Steven S. Ivy, PhD, IU Health; Lisa Hayes, JD, Gennesaret Free Clinic and cancer survivor; and Elder Eric J. Hayes, Sr., Restoration Baptist Church, will be joined by Antony Williamson with the Indianapolis Fire Department and a cancer survivor and Reverend Oliver D. Walker from Phillips Temple CME Church; Jane Schultz from IUPUI and a cancer survivor; and, Jan Carnaghi from Marian University and a cancer survivor, for the final of three community conversations sponsored by WFYI and Sound Medicine.
The group will discuss the role of one’s faith during illness and treatment, the roles of family and spiritual counselors in integrating spirituality with treatment, and what they learned as they walk together with their ministers and spiritual companions through their cancer journeys. The audience will be invited to participate in the conversation.
The conversation will be followed by a reception in the church to encourage one on one conversations with the participants. Parking is on the streets around the church and a parking lot at the corner of 16th and New Jersey.
Learn more and register at www.wfyi.org/events
They have been extended online at www.soundmedicine.org , where participants and other central Indiana residents are sharing their stories about living with and surviving cancer.
Notes: The three-part, six-hour documentary, “Ken Burns Presents, Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies,” is scheduled for broadcast March 30 – April 1, at 9 p.m., on WFYI 1, (channel 20), is the centerpiece of the cancer focus. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, ”The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,” by Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, the documentary takes a sweeping historical look at the disease, interweaves stories about contemporary patients, and explores the scientific breakthroughs that may finally bring us to a cure.
“Sound Medicine Radio Hour,” which airs on 90.1 WFYI Public Radio each week, will broadcast a special episode on Sunday, March 22, at 2 p.m., featuring Larry Einhorn, MD, IU Cancer Center, and his patient John Cleland who was cured of testicular cancer 40 years ago because of Einhorn’s landmark treatment.
