The Stark Reality About Leukemia and Chemotherapy Treatment

I appropriately write this review as our blog writer Katie drives from San Francisco to Orange County today to be with her mom who starts chemotherapy treatments in the morning.  This film “Dying Young“, directed by Joel Schumacher, is, as the title implies, the story of 28-year-old Victor as played by actor Campbell Scott, who is dying young. Having began his fight against leukemia in his early teens, all Victor has ever known is years of endless chemotherapy treatments.  He has sadly missed out on the expected teenager life including dating relationships with girls. Instead he has become a shy reclusive man who lives his life through the artists and lovers of his passion, Art Nouveau.

I am not writing this post to rate this movie or knock any of its expectedness but to simply consider its worthiness to help our users in some way. This film takes the topic of dealing with leukemia and nicely wraps it with the elated experience of Victor falling in love with Hilary, as played by Julia Roberts, who is hired to care for him.  Love becomes the perfect juxtaposition to balance against cancer’s reality offering both the film’s characters and the viewer hope and a positive perspective towards winning such a war.  I will not spoil the ending but it’s a brilliant one indeed, especially for those on such a tough journey.

This film is an obvious contender for those in their youth who are waging their own war with cancer. Most gripping (and surprising) are the traumatic courses of chemotherapy scenes. It was my first shocking exposure to what chemo entails. The gut-wrenching brutal impact on one’s body is exhibited against the backdrop of Victor’s aesthetically exquisite home. We witness the physical pain, vomiting, ravaging of one’s body as well as the mind’s struggle with a “why me” experience. If you’re about to be a caregiver to someone you will comfort and aid through their chemotherapy, then Dying Young could be a good introduction for you.

I confess Dying Young is a tear jerker and as we all know a good cry is always helpful to purge emotions through life’s tribulations. As to my final note – I dedicate this to Katie’s mom being all-ok.

Read our touching interview about George Mark Children’s House, one of the few homes for children who will never see adulthood.

Read jokes from around the world to help teens fight cancer.

Read our article to learn what a Child Life Specialist is.