Daughter
of Family G
The idea of Daughter of Family G first surfaced during a visit with
my favourite CBC Radio producer-pal, Dick Miller. The conversation started
with the usual, “what’s new?” and then wandered into talk about my upcoming
trip to visit family in the States. Dick asked “any big plans for the trip?”
I responded with “show off the new baby, catch up with the parents, oh and
have my blood drawn for genetic testing.” The next few minutes were spent
discussing my family’s history with colorectal cancer as well as the pros
and cons of making a radio documentary out of such an emotional and life
changing experience.
The entire process, from deciding to have the testing done to getting the
results and having my first colonoscopy, took about a year. At times, keeping
my written and audio journals were the only things that made waiting for the
results, bearable. Other days, creating the documentary made things overly
present in my mind and I was tempted to scrap the whole project. Ultimately,
I have no regrets. I’m glad that I stuck with it to the end. (which was really
just the beginning)
Daughter of Family G first
aired on CBC Radio’s The Sunday Edition in September of 2002.
Listen to the documentary at the
Soundprint website
Other links related to Colorectal Cancer SupportColorectal Cancer Association of Canada