GREENSBORO, N.C. — Our own Julie Luck rang the bell this week, signaling she beat colon cancer. It’s been five months since her Stage 3A colon cancer diagnosis. This bell ringing was certainly a celebration.
Julie now joins a special group of survivors who have celebrated by ringing a bell. The practice started at MD Anderson in Texas in 1996.
The bell is on a plaque with this poem:
Ring this bell, three times well,
Its toll to clearly say, my treatment's done,
This course is run and I am on my way.
The author-- Irve Le Moyne.
Who was he? A U-S Navy Rear Admiral who had head and neck cancer. He had the brass bell installed at the main campus of the MD Anderson Radiation Treatment Center.
Now, there are bells at facilities all over and they all look different. The one at the University of Alberta looks more like a cowbell, but the meaning is the same. It’s a ritual.
The university did a study on the ringing of the bell. The paper is published in the Canadian Oncology Nursing Journal.
One of the patients said, “I think the bell really helped me get through my radiation treatment.”
The researchers found the ritual created a sense of community and gave patients a sense of self-determination as they finished treatment.
Another finding statement, “We think the ringing of the bell might give patients and their families a s small bit of control in an uncontrollable environment.”
BTW, MD Anderson patients can also celebrate in another way according to their site:
Patients who finish treatment at MD Anderson’s Proton Therapy Center make a bit louder noise by banging a gong to symbolize the restoration of balance, harmony, and life energy.