The beloved comedian Gilda Radner put it best when she quipped, “Cancer gave me a membership in an elite club I’d rather not belong to.”

‘The Big C’ has been evoking fear in those on the receiving-end of the diagnoses since medicine began. Hippocrates is responsible for the name, believing that the finger-like spread of the disease resembled a crab—also the origin of the Zodiac sign. Roman physician Celsus used the term oncos to describe a tumor, forming the root of our present-day word ‘oncology’.

Despite advances in medicine, treatment and holistic therapies, cancer still kills around 600,000 Americans each year. When it comes to the age of its targets, it is an equal opportunity disease, affecting children, those in their midlife or the aging Baby Boomer. It ignores your position in the hierarchy of public life, felling some of our most iconic personalities: Patrick Swayze, Peter Jennings, Farrah Faucet and more recently, David Bowie. And of course, Gilda Radner.

Can the uncommon journey that cancer patients undergo result in anything positive? Does it offer us a new perspective on life; a vow to live every day to its fullest? Can we draw inspiration from the courageous battles waged by children and the solidarity of women and men who across the nation march for a cure every year?

In 2019, Emmy-award winner Director and Producer Keith Famie will dedicate his next film to the ravages of cancer, giving a voice to those who are in the midst of a terrifying journey. He will explore the latest medical advances as well as body, mind and spirit approaches and cures that may come from natural sources. An in-depth look will be taken as to how lifestyle changes and discipline can affect what may otherwise be a genetic roll of the dice.

As with all of Keith’s documentaries, the production will contrast real-time stories of cancer patients with those on the front-line of researching cures. The newest approaches will be examined, including advancements being made in chemotherapy and holistic medicine.

Above all the focus will be on hope, and the ways we can defeat ‘The Big C’ with two of humanities bigger ‘C’s: Comprehension and compassion. That’s a club in which we can all take pride in our membership.