Tara Parker Pope - On the Death of Her Mom

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, Tara Parker Pope let us know two things that have recently impacted her life.  The first was the death of her mother and the second leaving the Journal.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Tara she has been writing the"Health Journal" every Friday, for the past eight years.  She wanted to arm consumers with information that will help them make informed choices about health and medicine. I didn't always agree with what she said, but always fully believed in what she was trying to achieve.

In her farewell column, she talked about the death of her mother.  It was caused by a deadly cancer fueled by years of acid reflux.  When she was first diagnosed they knew her mom's best hope was to find a doctor they trusted.  Unfortunately, the oncologist other doctor's recommended wasn't taking any new patients, so they ended up with one of his colleagues.

 

That's when the sheer arrogance of some doctor's reared it's ugly head.  I'm all too familiar with that holier than thou attitude because the same thing has happened to me on several occasions.  When Tara asked him about new targeted therapies for esophageal cancer he shook his head and replied " I can tell someone has been spending time on the Internet".  When I asked the questions that I felt needed to be asked, the doctor simply gave me a dirty look and said "who's the doctor here"?

That experience rattled Tara, and even made her question the premise of the column.  "After all, I'm not a doctor", she said. But,Tara, you probably do more research every day than they ever do. So you keep doing what you're doing.

This is what happened after that discouraging appointment.  Tara's mom remembered she had a consultation with the recommended doctor years before.  This was great news, because Tara suddenly realized mom wouldn't be viewed as a new patient.  They got the appointment.

I won't go through all the highs and lows of what happened next but Tara's mom ultimately died of her disease.  The good news is her doctor gave her an unwavering calm as she faced death.  "You've just got to let go", she told Tara.  She died a few week later. 

Since the death, Tara has been reflecting more than ever on the power of information to improve our health.  She still believes that everyone has the power to take control of their health.  Tara, I too believe that from the bottom of my heart.

Tara, I will miss your column but I am sure it will resurface somewhere else very soon. Some folks think she might be moving over to the N.Y. Times.  With Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of the Journal, I'm sure there will be many changes coming.  Anyhow Tara, you will be missed.

Comments

[tara pope]

i just saw this -- or maybe i saw it before and read it again tonight. Either way, it's very nice and i appreciate it. You may know by now i've moved over to the NYTimes. Very happy there and always so happy to hear from a reader who knows me from the WSJ.

thanks again for this very nice post. The combination of nostalgia for the WSJ and reading about my mom again made me cry! but in a good way...

tpp