I was preparing some thoughts for the #ASCO12 Tweetup today and received an email.

John was emailing me about his father, who is my dad's best friend from college. He thanked me for referring him to colleagues at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) for metastatic cholangiocarcinoma. Everyone was aware of the bad prognosis, but they were thankful for my small bit of help and guidance I provided. His dad was doing better and in fact had driven himself from Louisiana to Nebraska and then played a guitar for four hours at a family reunion. My parents had both traveled to meet him in Nebraska.

This reminded me in the midst of signal transduction pathways, Bayesian statistics, quality metrics, and stock quotes what really matters in the world we occupy. I love the science and biology of oncology, but will always try to remember the human with an extended network of family and friends that are affected by cancer.

Thanks to my GI colleagues Mike & Scott at MDACC for helping this family out.