The Education of Dee Dee Ricks HBO

OCTOBER IS BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Image via WikipediaHave you ever heard the saying once you have a Volvo you start to see them everywhere? The same is true for most things and is currently happening to me. I think that two things are going on in this kind of situation. First you are more aware of the "Volvo" and second, I think there is some kind of magnetic field- coincidence factor that brings things and other people to you and you to them. I recently learned that I have skin cancer and it seems as if so many friends also have cancer.

Most of them have more serious forms: throat cancer, blood cancer and lymphomas, and I am certainly not equating what they are experiencing or have experienced, with my diagnosis and treatment. But, suddenly cancer seems to be everywhere I look. And, the cancer I have is unlikely to have spread so really it is a fraction of the cancers most face. But still, it is my body and the Big C. Those are two words you don't want to see in the same sentence. 

The HBO press release told me about a documentary about a remarkable woman, Dee Dee Ricks,  who learns about cancer the hard way (if there is an easy way that is what I have) through breast cancer. Coincidentally, the documentary she made debuts on the day of my cancer surgery.

Dee Dee Ricks is a self made hedge-fund millionaire living on Manhattan's Upper East Side.  In many ways she had it all, money, beauty, two sons.  Then she found that vortex of fear that illness brings when at 39, in 2008 she was diagnosed with aggressive stage II breast cancer.  After a double mastectomy, Dee Dee decided to document her experience for her sons in case something happened to her.

The documentary,  by award winning reporter Perri Peltz shows the hedge-fund millionaire's transformation into an advocate for poor breast-cancer patients as it chronicles her own successful treatment and marks Breast Cancer Awareness month.

When her bills started to arrive Ricks realized that she could afford the treatment but that many women and their families are bankrupted by treatment. Ricks partners with Harlem's Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care, believed to be the only cancer center to provide or ensure access to timely cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment to all everyone with cancer, regardless of their ability to pay. She pledged to raise 2.5 million dollars for the center and learns that while women of African descent are less likely to develop breast cancer they are 37% more likely to die from it than Caucasian women. 

THE CYNTHIA SHIRT

BUY THE SHIRT TO SUPPORT THE FIGHT

As they underwent treatment at the clinic, Ricks and an uninsured African-American breast cancer patient, Cynthia Dodson bond and became as close as sisters. Cynthia, whose resilience and optimism are an inspiration. Cynthia's cancer was diagnosed late in her disease and she has spots on her liver. 

Ricks has vowed to make sure Dodson gets the best treatments available and has stepped up her commitment to the Center. With the Susan Komen foundation a fund has been set up to honor Cynthia Dobson—who represents the plight of uninsured women—the Cynthia Fund which helps with the expense of treatment for the uninsured. debuts. To help raise money and awareness As part of the initiative, designer Tory Burch has created the Cynthia Shirt, with 100% of the profits going to the Cynthia Fund. 

Scene link: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/04/29/movies/100000000796644/scene-the-education-of-dee-dee-ricks.html  

THE EDUCATION OF DEE DEE RICKS is directed by Perri Peltz; executive producer, Jane Rosenthal; producer, Lisa R. Cohen; editors, Arielle Amsalam and Geeta Gandbhir; director of photography, Tom Mason; original music, Michael Bacon. For HBO: supervising producer, Sara Bernstein; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

DEBUT: THURSDAY, OCT. 27 (8:30-9:45 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

Perri Peltz is a former news correspondent and longtime public health advocate who reported on health-related issues for NBC and CNN and has worked for the Robin Hood Foundation supporting organizations that fight poverty.

 homeboxoffice.com