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Why is my mom smiling? Six months ago, Dr John Timmerman (left) told me my mom only had months to live. Her lymphoma had resisted three aggressive forms of treatment. There was only one last hope, an experimental drug called SGN 40 which was in a phase 2 clinical trial. Phase 2 means the drug company doesn’t know much more than it won’t kill you, but researchers don’t know much more than that. (They would say I’m exaggerating here).  Well, look at her now. Dr. T is photographing the evidence. No more cancerous lesions on my mom’s leg. The drug worked.  But I really thought I was going to lose my mom by Christmans. Since she was in the throes of really aggressive chemo, I’ve been recording my mother on mini cassettes and then with gear that NPR provided. After her cancer diagnosis, I realized she was my last connection to my family in China. I’ve been reporting for more than 20 years yet never knew my own mother’s personal story of survival, how she endured the Japanese War, the Chinese Civil War and her escape to the United States. She would never talk about it. Neither would my dad. His secrets died with him more than 20 years ago. Now, faced with losing my mom, I tried to get her to talk. I didn’t know what I would discover. 

I found out alot. Please tune in to NPR’s Day To Day program tomorrow, Tuesday May 27th . You can also hear the story and read more about it on NPR.org/daytoday