Published on Oct 22, 2014
At TEDMED, Debra Jarvis draws on her own experience with cancer to offer a witty yet daring look at the way that survivors of disease and trauma can achieve new levels of emotional and psychological healing.
For writer, ordained minister, and hospital chaplain Debra Jarvis, humor is a powerful balm. She is not afraid to be funny even when doing very serious work with the sick and dying as a hospice chaplain, a pastoral consultant for volunteer groups caring for people with AIDS and MS, and staff chaplain at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Debra is the author of It’s Not About the Hair: And Other Certainties of Life & Cancer and numerous other books. Currently on sabbatical in Geneva, Debra’s last job was as writer-in-residence for the University Congregational United Church of Christ in Seattle. In her free time, Debra accompanies her Cairn terrier Max in his therapy dog work.
- More from TEDMED 2014
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How autism freed me to be myself
Rosie King Rosie King challenges stereotypes of people with autism and contextualizes the issue by asking us, “Why be normal?” "Some people might call my obsession with facts boring. I call it FOCUS." - Rosie King ABOUT ROSIE When she was nine years old, doctors confirmed Rosie King’s self-diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome. With two younger siblings severely affected by autism, Rosie had a burning desire to help make the world a more tolerant place for people with autism ever since she was a young girl. She found the opportunity to do so when her family was invited to do Read More…
Tagged Under: Asperger, autism, Rosie King, TEDMED 2014 -
My father, locked in his body but soaring free
Published on Oct 19, 2014 At TEDMED, photographer Kitra Cahana shares a new visual language accompanying the extraordinary story of her father's severe brainstem stroke, a catastrophe that transforms into an inspiring and imaginative spiritual journey. What motivated you to speak at TEDMED? It’s very difficult to express the sublime and the surreal in words and photographs. I wanted to attempt to communicate all that my family had experienced in the summer of 2011 – my father’s brain stem stroke, and the profound spiritual awakening that followed – with others. When my father first had his stroke, I wrote down Read More…
Tagged Under: art, imagination, Kitra Cahana, photograhpy, recovery, spirituality, Stroke, TEDMED 2014 -
Beyond surviving
Published on Oct 22, 2014 At TEDMED, Debra Jarvis draws on her own experience with cancer to offer a witty yet daring look at the way that survivors of disease and trauma can achieve new levels of emotional and psychological healing. For writer, ordained minister, and hospital chaplain Debra Jarvis, humor is a powerful balm. She is not afraid to be funny even when doing very serious work with the sick and dying as a hospice chaplain, a pastoral consultant for volunteer groups caring for people with AIDS and MS, and staff chaplain at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Debra Read More…
Tagged Under: cancer, patient experience, survivor, TEDMED 2014