“Humans cannot live without hope. Hopelessness is the greatest trauma a person has to suffer.”—Emil J Freireich, MD
Dr. Emil J Freireich gave me hope—just as he did for millions of patients, loved ones, physicians and researchers. He brought me from Lebanon to the United States and provided me with endless opportunities to develop as a leukemia researcher and as a human being.
Not only was he my mentor, I considered him my third parent. After losing both my parents, in 2000 and 2001—my mother being the most intelligent person I have ever known and my father being the hardest-working person I have ever met—I realized that the people I loved most outside my immediate family were those in my professional one.
Foremost among them was Freireich.
This is an excerpt of an article that was published in full in The Cancer Letter.
Vol. 47 No. 05 | February 5, 2021
