U.S. National Institutes of Health

Transcript of original artwork for Mom’s Cancer

[Left panel]

I used to wonder how perfectly nice families could disintegrate in a crisis. Now I know.

Everyone is doing everything they can. But some of it conflicts, and none of it is enough. The stakes are too high.

We’re impatient, snappy. A two-hour drive to Impressive Hospital is a trial of tongue-biting stamina and seething tension.

[Right panel]

My wife said one of the wisest things I ever heard:

“When people face an emergency, they just become more of what they already are, like they get superpowers.”

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