Lights, camera, action

Faith Presbyterian Hospice -- the agency that helped Steve (and our family) in the last two months of his life and provided grief counseling for the year after his death -- is raising money to build an inpatient hospice, palliative care and counseling center.

Cooper, Katie and I were asked to help in a small way -- to allow a film crew in our home to capture our story for use in the fundraising campaign. I said yes, knowing how much the counseling services we received helped in our ongoing healing and grief process.

So two weeks ago (and just an hour after Cooper returned from a two-day camping trip), we opened our home to a producer and photographer, plus our grief counselor and Faith's marketing vice president.

They spent about five hours arranging lights and sound booms, capturing moments on film and interviewing all of us.

The producer interviewed me about Steve, his cancer, his death and how we have coped. She asked Cooper and Katie separately about their Daddy; they each spoke eloquently and honestly. I am enormously proud of their ability and willingness to express themselves. I love that their bravery might in a tiny way help other children receive the same kind of counseling support we received.

I've seen a draft copy of the video. I didn't cry during the interview or the entire filming process, but I cried for almost the entire five minutes of the beautiful video. I'll post it on the blog when it's available for public viewing.

Until then, here are the final words of the film, spoken by Katie:

"My Dad got a tumor in his brain. And normally when you get tumors in your brain you can get them out, but my Dad's tumor was too down deep in his brain, and his doctors couldn't get it and he died."

Katie during her interview