come on down to the Mermaid Cafe

As others have said, this hits really hard. I lost my mom to breast cancer when I was young, and then my grandmother to brain cancer, and others I wasn't as close to, but this poem just hits all of my feelings exactly. I, too, believe in the power of science and I wish so much it could move faster because watching people suffer and not being able to do anything about it is horrific. All of which I think you have perfectly captured.