Making whole again
Nutritionist Stacy Kennedy (left) was one of many Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center practitioners who helped guide Barbara Schoeman's care.
I also found solace in prayer, especially during chemo. I don't think it's unusual, when facing serious illness, to search for meaning, for answers, for healing of the spirit. Whether we believe in God's power or the forces of nature or genetics, how do we make sense of bad things that happen, be they our illnesses or natural disasters?
To seek the answers, I often reread my favorite passage from Talmud class; this is how it appears in the Biblical book of Deuteronomy: "If you see your fellow's ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it; you must take it back to your fellow. If your fellow does not live near you or you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home and it shall remain with you until your fellow claims it; then you shall give it back to him. … and so too shall you do with anything that your fellow loses and you find: you must not remain indifferent."
Of course, when we read these verses today, we're not talking about returning our neighbor's oxen, but of returning a person to herself or himself, of "making whole" again. And whether we experience a natural disaster or need help to heal from an illness, our shared task is to make what has been torn asunder whole again. This is what has been so special and unique to me about my treatment at Dana-Farber, the willingness of others to look at the whole individual and help that person heal – body, mind, and spirit.
This story grew out of a speech by Schoeman at the fifth anniversary celebration for the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrated Therapies at Dana-Farber, held last November.
