FESTIVALS & SPECIAL EVENTS

Home > FESTIVALS & SPECIAL EVENTS > 2011–‘12 U-Mary Campus Read Program, Featuring ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’

• Tweet
• Outlook
• ICAL
• PRINT
• Email
• Feedback

• RSS

• Add to My Favorites

2011–‘12 U-Mary Campus Read Program, Featuring ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’

Presented by University of Mary

November 10, 2011

Add Review/Comment
Comment on Facebook

He shrugged it off as a canker sore in his mouth. His wife Lisa didn’t want him to take any chances. So he had his dentist diagnose what was growing on his tongue, which led to a biopsy.





“If the doctor takes off his hat and quietly sits down beside you, you know the news can’t be good,” sighs Bill Bauman, cancer survivor and 1984 University of Mary alum, who will be featured at a university convocation next week. “In 2006 I was diagnosed with stage four head and neck cancer. There was no family history of cancer. When it’s totally out of the blue like that cancer is more unpredictable. You have to be strong, positive and fight it aggressively.”





Bauman’s aggressiveness and strong faith in God have made him a living billboard for the Bismarck Cancer Center’s message of “Hope, Help, Healing,” which is the title of their presentation on Nov. 10, 2011, 11 a.m., in Butler Hall at the Gary Tharaldson School of Business. The event is part of the annual University of Mary Campus Read fundraising campaign.





“The University of Mary's Campus Read program is a wonderful way to showcase how a true story that helped shape national medical research also has a direct impact on the cancer care provided at a local level,” says Kimberly Jondahl, marketing director at the Bismarck Cancer Center. “The Bismarck Cancer Center Foundation is so pleased that the University of Mary is helping to build awareness and making a contribution to a local cancer-fighting cause. Cancer affects just about everyone in some way. When people understand that their entire donation stays local and is helping a neighbor or another North Dakotan, that not only helps lift people above themselves for a greater cause, it also supports a stronger sense of community."





The Campus Read unites the University of Mary campus by enhancing collaborative work and developing links between a particular book selection and its themes. This year’s book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” is a New York Times bestseller that tells a captivating, true story about how science and medicine collide with ethics and change a family’s life forever.





“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is based on decades-old events, but what is happening in today’s world of fast-paced health care? Dr. John Watkins, radiation oncologist with the Bismarck Cancer Center, will discuss how medical research is accomplished today. Ken Dykes, Bismarck Cancer Center executive director, will discuss the importance of having local cancer care.





“If you haven’t been in that world before, it can be overwhelming and daunting; that is why having local care is so important,” adds Bauman. “The Bismarck Cancer Center state-of-the-art equipment provided healing every day, so I didn’t have to leave town or travel far. During this journey, when I was bedridden, people we knew would help by making us meals and giving our family rides.”





With multiple surgeries and weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatments it would be easy for Bill and other cancer patients to lose hope.





During the difficult and overwhelming journey of fighting cancer, Bill and Lisa also found out they were going to be blessed with a fourth child. They had no idea what gender the baby would be. However, Lisa knew it would be a girl and even had a name picked out for her.





“God laid on Lisa’s heart that it would be a girl and she would be named Hope,” says Bauman, who is beating his cancer. “It’s a blessing from God. God brought Hope to us.”