'That Man Has No Ego'
You wouldn’t think that a story about Ronald Reagan’s recovery from a gunshot wound would remind me of an experience during my blood cancer treatment. But that is what happened, in a roundabout way. A conversation on Morning Joe, the morning news program, sparked it. The topic: Politicians who either lack humility or have it. Historian Jon Meacham said that whatever you thought of Reagan, you could see that he had humility. He told the story of a visit that Reagan’s vice president, George Bush, paid to the hospital after the assassination attempt in March 1981.
When Bush arrived, Reagan was in the bathroom, cleaning up some water he had spilled on the floor. Bush asked Reagan what he was doing. Meacham recounted that Reagan said he was doing it so the nurse wouldn’t be blamed. I checked with Dr. Google and saw that this was not exactly the response, though like in a game of telephone, the story has probably evolved. And the sentiment was the same.
In an interview with CBS News to mark the 25th anniversary of the assassination attempt, former president George H.W. Bush said, “He didn't want the nurse to have to do it. That was typical of Reagan. People don't realize his kindness. He spilled and he cleaned the water up himself so the nurse wouldn't have to do it.”1
The kindness of one person can make a difference
The story made me think of how kind a Dana-Farber doctor, Paul G. Richardson, was to me when he was attending physician during my long hospitalization after my fourth stem cell transplant.
Each morning when he came by, he rested his hand on my shoulder. It was almost as though he had been trained in Reiki. Just his hand on my shoulder made me feel calm. One day, I knocked my coffee cup over. The coffee spilled on the floor. The doctor got down on the floor to wipe it up.
“That man has no ego,” the nurse said when he left. I said something along the lines of having a crush on the soft-spoken Englishman. She said I wasn’t the only one. If anyone could have a puffed-up ego, he is that person.
His bio is longer than any I have seen on the Dana-Farber website. It says he “led the development of several first-generation novel drugs including bortezomib, lenalidomide, and pomalidomide for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Subsequent studies have focused on next-generation novel drugs including panobinostat...” If you are a member of the multiple myeloma community, you will know better what this means. Even without understanding the details, you can’t help but be impressed by his work in the last decade focusing on the development of new treatments.
But wait, there is more
He wrote or co-authored more than 400 articles and 330 reviews, chapters, and editorials in journals and was past chairman of the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium, Clinical Trials Core.
Out of the long list of awards, the one that jumped out at me is the “Compassionate Caregiver Award.”
It’s easy to see how he earned it.
Before Dana-Farber opened its new building separating the blood cancers by floor, the multiple myeloma clinic was on the same floor as the leukemia clinic. During long waits in the clinic, if I saw him walk by, I would go over and say hi. Just even a quick hello could calm my agitation as I waited for my checkup.
Have you had any doctors or other caregivers whose simple gestures make you feel better? I have been lucky to have more than one. At some other time, I’ll tell how they have helped me, and, I assume, have helped many others.
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