Cancer Opens A Lens

After surviving cancer, photographer Carolyn Taylor documented a disease that knows no boundaries. In the process she tripled the number of survivor groups in Vietnam.

Beating an early detected ovarian cancer in 2006 inspired Taylor, a commercial photographer, to log 100,000 miles to many countries of the developing world. There she photographed cancer patients and their families.

She discovered that only one cancer hospital and four oncologists serve Tanzania’s 45 million people. All of Vietnam has only one cancer support group, the Breast Cancer Club of Hanoi.

So she founded Global Focus on Cancer. It aims to raise awareness and to bring concrete aid.

Taylor’s poignant images got the attention of Smilow Cancer Center Survivorship Clinic Director Dr. Tara Sanft. Sanft has tapped Taylor to be the featured speaker this Saturday at Smilow’s Cancer Survivors Day event.

Taylor showed her pictures and Sanft gave tips on surviving cancer (example: a strong belief system is as valuable as the best medicines) as they appeared together at a taping of N’Zinga Shani’s ​“21st Century Conversations,” a program of the One World Progressive Institute. It will air in the Greater New Haven area in coming weeks.

During the show, Taylor (pictured) described her photographic challenge: ​“I can shoot a pork chop, but a person recovering from cancer — how to tell their story?”

She rose to the challenge.

When she visited the cancer hospital in Ho Chi Minh City she saw 1,200 beds and 3,000 patients, not counting family members who minister to them.

That means two to three people shared a bed. Sometimes patients slept under the bed.

“I can’t just photograph. I’ve got to do something,” Taylor recalled deciding.

This photograph tells the story of Hassan, age 26, one of approximately 150,000 albinos in Tanzania. The social ostracism of this group, the absence of public awareness and no sunscreen have contributed to widespread melanomas. Taylor’s group is now working with the Skin Cancer Foundation to address the crisis among this besieged population.

In Vietnam, Global Focus on Cancer has already tripled the number of cancer support groups. Taylor said cancer provided her the opportunity to serve and to become ​“a better person.”

Of Taylor’s example and that of her own patients, Sanft said, ​“When you watch someone deal with adversity and come out the other side, it’s awe inspiring.”

Sanft estimated the U.S. has 12 million survivors of cancer, with 120,000 in Connecticut. She ascribed those numbers to early detection and to improved treatments that can be better tolerated by patients. In the developing world, Taylor said, 70 to 80 percent of the cancers are advanced when found because of a lack of equipment or expertise for early detection.

Sanft said she hopes Taylor’s images and cancer survival story will show that ​“we are all united through the world by this terrible thing no one wants to have. It’s universal, regardless of race, religion, national origin.”