/images/dot_clr.gif) The Simonton Documentary
Producer : Elizabeth Simonton
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| This documentary follows the career of Dr. O. Carl Simonton, a radiation-oncologist who was plagued by controversy in the medical world due his unconventional work addressing the emotional and psychological issues of cancer patients. The film explores oncology and analyzes just “how far we have come” with western medicine, as well as investigates the overwhelming resistance to the idea that our beliefs can affect our health. |
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| This medical documentary takes a critical look at modern oncology and analyzes the role of consciousness in the treatment of cancer.
The idea that consciousness plays a role in illness and recovery was a controversial topic brought to the public's attention by Dr. O. Carl Simonton, a radiation-oncologist studying the effects of emotional and psychological counseling in the treatment of cancer.
Dr. Simonton conducted an initial pilot study "aimed at distinguishing the effects of emotional and medical treatments to demonstrate scientifically that the emotional treatment was indeed having an effect" (Getting Well Again, 11). Over a period of four years Dr. Simonton treated 159 patients with a a diagnosis deemed "medically incurable" meaning these patients had no more than 12 months to live. Patients in this study, versus the control group of patients who received no emotional support, lived on average, twice as long. Four years later, an astounding 22% of those living after the study ended, showed no evidence of disease. These results were scientific proof that emotional intervention does indeed play a large role in how a patient will respond to their experience with cancer, whether that be their response to treatment, survival rate, or their quality of life. The main message to be taken away from this study was that there was hope for patients deemed "terminally ill," and that a patient could participate in their recovery and possibly influence the course of their disease.
Unfortunately the medical community did not respond to these published reports with as much enthusiasm as Dr. Simonton.
In 1981 the American Cancer Society placed Dr. Simonton on their "Quack List" otherwise known as the Unproven Methods List, for his work in addressing the importance of emotional and psychological support for cancer patients. He is the only board-certified radiation-oncologist to ever be placed on this list. He is also the only person to ever be removed from the list. After 19 years, Dr. Simonton was quietly removed but there was no public apology ever sanctioned for their attempt to derail his entire career.
In this film you will not only come to understand the work of Dr. Simonton and the controversy that plagued his pioneering efforts, you will also meet five cancer patients from all walks of life. These patients are all battling aggressive cancers, trying to balance their traditional treatments with the teachings of Dr. Simonton, and exploring the power of hope in their emotionally and physically challenging journeys. We will be speaking with oncologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, cancer survivors, social workers and therapists from around the globe in an attempt to understand the power of hope and belief in the fight against cancer.
BEGINNING to END Treatment:
The beginning of the film will introduce the late Dr. Simonton via footage taken from 1992 on the CBS morning news. We will then get a more personal look at Dr. Simonton and his work through footage captured at his home and at his cancer center in California. At the same time we will illuminate the controversy surrounding his work by introducing some of the most public critics of the Simonton Program. We will then have Dr. Mariusz Wirga and Dr. Maxie Maultsby explain the science behind the Simonton concepts focusing on psychoneuroimmunology and cognitive science. Although these are complex topics, both doctors do a good job of explaining themselves and these issues in a way that is easy to understand.
The topic of cancer is clearly a very serious issue, yet Dr. Simonton is able to bring out his sense of humor around his career, his critics, and life in general to make for a very entertaining introduction. The beginning of the film will also include the history behind the idea that our beliefs can affect our health, including the work of Hippocrates, Buddha, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, and many more.
Near the end of the beginning each patient will be introduced. The patients are as follows: Elaine from South Africa, a woman in her 50s suffering from colon cancer. She is undergoing intense chemotherapy and shares her most undesirable experience with doctors who left her with little to no hope for survival, and how she managed to keep hope alive. Chiara from northern Italy is a retired investment banker who feels as though the stress of her work and her outlook on life are what caused her cervical cancer. Chiara underwent chemotherapy and surgery but feels the teachings of Dr. Simonton are what saved her life. Paul from Montana, is suffering from a brain tumor and has undergone massive surgery and treatment and is hopeful about recovery but comfortable with death, only Paul and his wife Laura have yet to make peace with the fact that he might have to leave his twin boys to grow up without a father. Then there is Leslie from San Francisco, who has been in and out of remission from a breast cancer that had metastasized to 17 different locations in her body. Leslie is doing well but recently found out that her supportive husband Michael has just been diagnosed with cancer as well. And last is Carolyn and Jack Fox, from Sherman Oaks, California. Carolyn has been battling cancer for the past 20 years going in and out of remission, with her husband as her number one supporter. She has attended seven Simonton Cancer Center patient sessions over the years and is so experienced with the teachings of Dr. Simonton that counselors often call on her to help mentor patients who are new to the concepts.
Middle:
About halfway through the film, we will take to the world, visiting the Simonton Cancer Center in Japan, and exposing the reasons why Japanese culture is a bit more open to the idea that beliefs and emotions can influence the course of illness. We will visit Obitsu Hospital, a major hospital right outside of Tokyo, where doctors and patients balance counseling and therapy with standard medical procedures.
In the same manner as Japan we will travel to Germany and the Netherlands where there are similar Simonton Cancer Centers and explore the work within these different cultures.
In the middle of the film I will introduce Bob Gilley, one of Dr. Simonton’s very first patients who was so impressed with Dr. Simonton’s work that he actually went on to create his own cancer counseling center, where he was promptly shut down for practicing without a license. He is an amazingly vivacious man with seemingly endless energy, who was told he had one month to live, 30 years ago.
At the very end of the middle I will be speaking with the doctors that were responsible for placing Dr. Simonton on the “Quack List,” as well as any doctors that I can locate who have publicly stated their disapproval of Dr. Simonton’s work including James Coyne and Jimmie Holland. I believe speaking with individual doctors who do not agree with the work is a very important aspect of the film, so that the film is not entirely slanted. Although the film supports Dr. Simonton’s work, it does not disapprove of the marvels of modern medicine and we aim to remain open to the criticism that Dr. Simonton receives to let the audience form their own opinions.
The End
I will have the patients sharing their stories throughout the film, but I would like to tie up a conclusion for each of them in the end. I do not expect any patient to have a miraculous cure within the span of this film, but I aim to illustrate the hope and happiness they gain throughout production. Many of these patients walked into the film having just been introduced to Dr. Simonton. By the end of the production most will have been practicing his methods for at least 18 months, and the transformations I have seen within just five days of my initial introduction to them was astounding.
Dr. Simonton’s interviews and lectures will be mixed in throughout the film as well but I would like for him to finish by sharing the story about how he was ultimately removed from the “Quack List,” as well as interview the woman responsible for his removal. The story of his removal is fascinating and a wonderful way to illustrate Dr. Simonton’s triumph in the world of oncology.
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| Elizabeth Simonton: (writer, director, producer)
My name is Elizabeth Simonton and I am the daughter of the late
Dr O. Carl Simonton. I regret to inform you that my father passed away on June 18th 2009 at the age of 66. The incident was unexpected and abrupt, but this tragedy only makes me more certain that his story must be told. I have obtained enough footage of him directly to move forward with the project, but I am completely out of funding for the film. Up to this point I have funded the project on my own, but I am now ready to take this project to the next level. This is the first documentary I have worked on, but I have experience with filming and production for television pilots. With this film, it is simply my goal to have my father’s story be told so that those who have lost hope might find it again.
I am twenty-five years old and I received my BA from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2007. I grew up traveling with my father to his speaking engagements and patient sessions, and I was probably the first child in my elementary school to know that chemotherapy, not cancer, causes patients to lose their hair. I have never been so passionate about anything in my life, than I am about telling my father’s story. I have seen, first hand, the impact that his work has had on people’s lives, how it has transformed hopelessness into hope, and fear into courage. Unfortunately I have also been witness to the horrible politics that plague the medical world. It is my belief that this film, in the hands of the right production team, has the power to change the face of modern oncology.
Ryan Foster:
(Editor)
Ryan is a southern California native who has a personal connection with both this film and filmaking. Ryan's father made his career as an editor in Hollywood and now Ryan has followed in his father's footsteps. Ryan also grew up with the creator of this film, Elizabeth Simonton, and feels very passionately that this is a film that can change modern medicine. It is a story he will help tell, because he feels it needs to be shared with the world.
Tiffany Calhoun
(Producer)
As the creative force behind Eco/Pictures, Calhoun began her illustrious filmmaking career by assisting her mother in the independent film, Winding Roads. Calhoun learned her craft under the tutelage of her mother, film producer and financier Gloria Blisard Calhoun, who inspired her to tell stores as well as be involved in all parts of a film project.
Calhoun is a graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, where she studied Advertising and Sociology. During her time at Pepperdine, she became an activist for human rights and the environment. After many years in film, she branched out in 2008 and started the film production company My Productions, LLC. Calhoun is finishing her Masters Degree in Business Administration.
Tiffany Calhoun has lived an eco-chic lifestyle since moving to Los Angeles in 1993 from Springfield, Missouri to study acting. One year later she became a devout vegetarian and began her interest in animal rights and the environment. Calhoun clearly saw an unfulfilled niche in Hollywood's influential power structure. She then found inspiration to create Eco/Pictures after her mother's unwavering encouragement to work hard, give back, and make a difference. |
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| In 1981 the American Cancer Society placed Dr. O. Carl Simonton on their “Quack List” otherwise known as The Unproven Methods List, for his work in addressing the emotions and beliefs of his cancer patients. He is the only board-certified radiation-oncologist to ever be placed on this list, and he is also the only person to ever be removed from the list. After 19 years, Dr. Simonton was quietly removed from the list but there was no public apology ever sanctioned for their attempt to derail his entire career.
The advancements in western medicine are indeed impressive and important, but what seems to have been forgotten in the process is the miraculous healing power of our very own body and mind. Dr. Simonton captures this paradox very well in his book Getting Well Again when he says:
“So much time, money and knowledge have gone into our medical technology that it is easy to think of medical science as all-powerful. But when, in spite of everything, people still die, it is illness that seems all-powerful. The glittering machines, the giant laboratories, and the genuine medical accomplishments of our time can cause us to forget that many of the essential ingredients of healing are still mysterious. It is important that we remember the limits of our knowledge” (16).
To say that this topic is important is a gross under-statement, I believe it is vital that the public be informed of the studies that have been conducted over the past decades that have scientifically supported the concept that psychological and emotional counseling has increased the survival rate for cancer patients. This film does not seek to disregard modern medical accomplishments but rather, inquires why western medicine has disregarded the numerous studies that have proven the significance of mind-body work. Why is counseling for cancer patients and their families not treated as essential as chemotherapy or radiation? Why are so many families not informed of the science behind this work, while they are dictated to about the science and importance of new drug treatments? The public will not ask for what they do not know exists, this film merely seeks to introduce the public to these concepts in an attempt to create a place for the emotional treatment of cancer in modern oncology.
There have been many wonderful and significant documentaries made on the topic of cancer, such as Crazy Sexy Cancer, A Lion in the House, Just One Year, and countless other films that share the personal journeys of cancer patients and survivors. This film is unique in that it will not only share the stories of patients, and the tumultuous forty-year career of an oncologist, but we are traveling the world, visiting hospitals and interviewing doctors, counselors, and patients from all walks of life in an attempt to understand the power of hope and belief in the fight against cancer. It is my goal to have the viewer feel as though they have learned something after watching this film, whether they agree with the teachings of Dr. Simonton or not, everyone deserves to be informed of the possibilities.
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