American Experience, The Cancer Detectives
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Tuesday, March 26, at 9 PM
Wednesday, March 27, at 2 AM
Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):
Monday, April 1, at 8 PM
In the 1950s, survival rates from cancer of any kind were low. Damaging surgery and unsophisticated radiotherapy were the main treatments, assuming the disease was detected in time for anything to be done. Cervical cancer was often asymptomatic until it was well advanced, and by that time, it was often a death sentence.
This dramatic story of the fight against cervical cancer revolves around three main characters:
- Dr. George Papanicolaou, a Greek immigrant whose single-minded pursuit of the development of a diagnostic test saved hundreds of thousands of women
- Hashime Murayama, a talented artist and technical illustrator who was fired from National Geographic because of his Japanese heritage, then interned in a WWII camp and later released to work on the cervical cancer project
- Dr. Helen Dickens, a groundbreaking Black female surgeon, who overcame deep distrust between the Black community and medical professionals to save the lives of thousands of women
The work of these three true life savers slashed death rates of this previously unfightable cancer by more than 60 percent.