JIM RISWOLD
PORTRAIT OF BRIAN DRUKER IN 365 DAYS
(A GLEEVEC A DAY KEEPS THE CHRONIC MYELOGENEOUS LEUKEMIA AWAY)
2013 color digital print 33-1/2 x 119 inches
Edition of 10
$4000.
Brian Druker gave the world Gleevec.
Gleevec turned a fatal and essentially chemotherapy-resistant disease
called chronic myelogenous leukemia into a treatable disease.
Overnight.
Druker and Gleevec changed a once usually fatal disease with a grim
prognosis of a few years left on this earth to a disease with a prognosis
of 30 to 40 years left on this earth, provided you don’t get hit by a bus.
This deal comes with but one simple return of favor: take one Gleevec pill
per day every day for the rest of your now longer life in order to continue
that longer life.
Seems fair.
The word miracle comes to mind.
Seems fair.
Gleevec comes with very few side effects. Druker has said, “Gleevec
disables the cancer without disabling the patient.”
Gleevec saved the life of my extremely talkative friend Aldo. Aldo can
talk Death to death. Therefore, Gleevec has enabled him to keep on
talking and talking and talking and talking and talking.
Perhaps Aldo’s never-ending talking not ending is Gleevec’s most severe
side effect.
Seems fair.
Long live Aldo!
Of course this piece is dedicated to my longtime and long-winded
friend Aldo. We’ve known each other for five decades and he has not
once shut up during that time and I hope he doesn’t shut up for the
next five decades.