Heres a universal truth: people are interested in helping Tom Hanks. Click here to dismiss this module permanently. The press release is about to go out. I sat there and watched her read, waiting for something more, something that explained it. Westchester was still a pandemic hot spot and there could be no congregating, even outside. We can go up and back the same day.. 30, 2019: I imagine your kindness comes from you being kind. At her first meeting with Hanks, Patchett also met his personal assistant, Sooki Raphael, whose unusual evening coat, its huge peonies . My friend tilted her head. Read More. No events scheduled for January 20, 2023. Except it was Sooki, and I liked her very much. a link to a 20,000-word story in Harpers, New book relives chaotic 2020 news cycle in a good way, A Black descendent of Thomas Jefferson brings her ancestors out of the shadows, Amazon releases its best books of 2021 list: 'An embarrassment of riches', Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Our house was a holding pattern, a neutral space without expectation where all that mattered was her recovery. It turned out to be more or less the truth. I desperately wanted to vomit, to turn back time. How it happened is told in the title story of These Precious Days, [] It becomes the woods. In time, all I would have to say was, Its Friday. It was anchored by a quarter inch of hair at most but it was indeed anchored. I had to listen to what she was telling me. Sookis loving memory will live on in her husband Ken Wheeland, son Cody Wheeland, his wife Sara Wheeland and their children Anja and Oliver, her daughter Alison Villalobos and husband Luke Villalobos, her mother Miriam Raphael, her sisters Judy Raphael and Ruth Raphael, her stepbrothers Michael Fishman and Philip Fishman, and stepfather Ted Fishman an amazing circle of friends and extended family. I went to sleep with my husband. Raphael found great beauty during a tumultuous time of her life and shared that beauty with others through her artwork. Now every engagement I had scheduled in 2020 was canceled. God damn it, get inside, I said to my husband. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The only other option was to go with stickers which could shift or come off in the shower. Primarily and in her soul she was an artist.. She wasnt just her illness. I was no longer sick or well. It wasnt that I could kill someone; it was that I could kill her. And that was so sweet, but what it meant was I couldn't go home for Thanksgiving. They clearly didnt understand she intended to walk, though knowing Sooki, she probably could have carried it. I need to go home, she would say, like home was another place she could walk to. What about the children who were left behind in that house she hated? Its like youre going home to the Ukraine for the first time in ten years, I said as we loaded up coolers and bags. By showing her what her life might have looked like and then sending her home. By seeing what I wanted to see instead of what was actually in front of me. "They have it," she said. I didnt understand what it was, but something was in the air. My husband is a doctor, and I was telling him about this one night. Karls cousin was visiting from New Mexico, sleeping in the other guest room. Copyright 2023 SurvivorNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Sooki agrees to stay for a few nights. It was just me in the house. I think I know what Im doing when in truth I have no idea. I told her I would pick her up at the airport. Sooki went with him every day. She liked herself again. How was that possible? There she was in the passenger seat, a shy person with a quiet voice. It was my intention to vomit, but the idea of getting past Sooki was overwhelming. He describes her as "someone who is all that is good in the world.". We had been together for the duration of this new world. The caps were in the Mary Poppins suitcase, along with her paints and easel, the large blanket she had brought us as a gift, and her extensive wardrobe. As we worked our way through trying to get contracts signed and making arrangements with the audio producer, our emails became an affectionate exchange. PGVs (pathogenic germline variants) are changes in reproductive cells (sperm or egg) that become part of the DNA in the cells of the offspring. I can fly you up, Karl offered, once her mother was safely home. She had transferred her life into brushwork, impossible colors overlapping, the composition precariously and perfectly balanced. It was possible, and I had no intention of thinking about it. It was shallow, but perfect, and the early morning, Sea stones with holes in them have long been regarded as magical talismans, carried for protection, or safe passage. No events scheduled for January 18, 2023. My husband, Karl, and I sat in a dressing room with them for an hour and a half between sets. The title piece in the autobiographical essay collection These Precious Days by Ann Patchett is about her unexpected friendship with Tom Hanks's personal assistant, Sooki Raphael, who ended up living with Patchett and her husband in Nashville while enrolled in a medical trial for pancreatic cancer. I leave the house at 6:30 am every weekday morning to make it down to the bottom basementfloor 2Bat UCLAs Westwood Medical Center by 7:30 am. I picked up one of the bigger islands and moved it gently back and forth. That was how I saw the coronavirusas something that could kill Sooki. And despite the fact that cancer has essentially been her whole life, Cuozzo has recognized herself as a lot more than a diagnosis by focusing on her life as a mother and an artist. And if you decide you want to stay, well, you dont have to give that up either., Sooki the Tireless, Sooki the Indefatigable, looked as if she was about to split apart. Paintings by Sooki Raphael. Where was Sooki? Ann Patchett one night happened to read a short story by the actor Tom Hanks, surprised by its literary quality. This is a great read. If I knew nothing about Sooki before she arrived, I knew very little more three weeks later when we were spending all of our days together. Shell die, Karl said. She met a group of sailors who had sailed around the world. We talked about the nightmare of health insuranceand how the percentage of treatment costs she and Ken had to pay out of pocket had wiped out their retirement, had wiped out everything. A plane? I'll see if I can get her into a trial here in Nashville. She had transferred her life into brushwork, impossible colors overlapping, the composition precariously and perfectly balanced. More news about planes: friends of mine in Nashville who knew what was going on with Sooki, and who have a house in California and a jet that takes them there, the nicest possible friends, offered her a ride home. As the warning sirens kicked in at four in the morning, only Sooki was awake. It has to be one of the most extraordinary stories of lockdown how Tom Hanks's assistant Sooki Raphael, undergoing treatment for recurrent pancreatic cancer, came to be living in the basement of the novelist Ann Patchett and her husband Dr Karl VanDevender. He told me he was going to take his grandsons to the river to go boating. Where were you born? Are you not sorry you did it? I felt like it took me two minutes to put that much together. I met an old friend from school who lived up in Harlem and she drove me out. Karl was home from work when we got to the house, and he and I showed Sooki around. Now Sooki and I sorted through them like old baseball cards. I sent more books: books Id written, books I thought shed like, Kate DiCamillo books to be read with her grandchildren. The wind was coming down the street like a train. feb. 15, 2020: I will try to keep this quick as I know you have many fish to fry. She painted. I floated upstairs in a world that would not stop changing. Locked out of your account? I must have dropped it. I know how to structure my time. We have some picnic tables outside the police station, the officer said. And there I was, going nowhere. The most important human qualities were being applied to this form. I should have planned better, she said. When she gave us the painting she had done of Sparky on the back of the couch, I felt as if Matisse had painted our dog.. . He thrilled them, buying stacks of books, signing books, posing for pictures, going next door to the Donut Den for an apple fritter. Ive had a happy life because of her.. But a few months later, I got an email from Tom Hanks early in the morning. But now she's memorialized in author Ann Patchett's latest book, These Precious Days: Essays, which will be released Nov. 23. Even in this first picture, a self portrait of her while undergoing chemo during Covid she still painted. We went out to the street on that bright morning to see a fire high up in the distance. My friend told us we should wear eye masks and cover ourselves with blankets. Like a Cessna? Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process. In return, she sent me pictures shed taken of Los Angeles, a woman in an orange sari sailing past a city bus on a bicycle. In a previous interview with SurvivorNet,Dr. Anirban Maitra, the co-leader of the Pancreatic Cancer Moon Shot at MD Anderson Cancer Center, explains what he typically sees when patients develop this disease. The last few months, the oncologists were watching the numbers and Western medicine offered nothing to do but to wait and see where the cancer showed up. Theyd fallen on the mailboxes. 68 books15.8k followers Patchett was born in Los Angeles, California. I dont know why I didnt have the sense to worry, but I didnt. And we were living exactly in the moment. With many creative endeavors - from clothing to ceramics to a long career in the film industry Raphael has contributed to numerous projects, busily attending to the arts through a multiplicity of avenues. Germline variants are passed from parents to their children, and are associated with increased risks of several cancer types, including pancreatic, ovarian and breast cancers. But I think once youre here and see the setup youll understand. You know that you dont talk about yourself, right? We were living together. I had been afraid of how the story would end. She had said almost nothing and yet my eye kept going to her, the way ones eye goes to the flash of iridescence on a hummingbirds throat. PET scans) were showing no sign of disease. He had a single-engine Cirrus that he kept at the small hobby airport not far from where we lived. I wanted to say hello very quietly so as not to bother her. Who is she? And youre going to freeze your head for eight hours every week? Wed been together for a matter of minutes. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Everyone was wide awake, waiting up to see if the world was going to end. It was now or never. He was tall and slim, happily at ease, answering questions, signing books. I worked at the Bronx Zoo during school and then I did the whole bat thing. Hell make sure you get everything you need. She was supposed to wear a complicated Velcro gel pack (unfortunately called a penguin cap) on her head on the days she had chemo. The day after that she came upstairs wearing a sock hat. She certainly isnt short of abundant care for others, and by the time you get to the end of this collection its hard not to feel glad she saved her energy for writing. We love you, Sooki. It was such a short trip it hardly counted as being gone. I tried it but it didnt work. He said they were running more trials for pancreatic cancer than Sloan Kettering. To introduce Karl into this narrative as a general internist (he calls himself a pediatrician for adults) would be reductive. PATCHETT: I really, really appreciate that. Why couldnt she see that? A minute later everyone was on the plane and gone. KELLY: Wow. So it really was what they said, a definitive spiritual experience? Shed seen people. No, not Chekhov or Dickens or her one-time hero, Updike. I think about all the people who would want her to live with them. I didnt know how the story would end. I have limited time as I work til mid May, then leave the US in June until I come back to start another movie in September. Sooki had downloaded it. KELLY: My conversation this past fall with author Ann Patchett about her latest book "These Precious Days. She shook her head, scrolling. We lit the gas stove with matches and made dinner. Jennie and I walked our dogs together after dinner, and Sooki came with us most nights, unless she had a phone call to return, unless she wasnt feeling up to it. I like myself here, she said softly. I went by myself. She lugged her suitcase out to the car without my knowing it. Whether she was trying to hold on to her own sense of privacy or what she perceived to be our privacy, I didnt know. But all Sooki did was help me. Sooki left for yoga just as the waitress was bringing our eggs. The car was taking me into yellow, not a field of yellow but into the color itself. Im just wondering if you got in the habit of not talking about yourself because of the work you do. I told her about a friend of mine who worked as an assistant for a hedge-fund manager in New York, and how she parked every piece of herself at the door when she went to work in the morning. How had she known something was wrong? This article was originally published inThe SpectatorsUK magazine. She became interested in urban animals. You two go and Ill have dinner ready by the time you get back. It was the practical solution, and so they left. Wed stood together in the dark of a Washington theater for a matter of minutes a year and a half earlier. Cause and effect are so much clearer in novels than they are in life. He holds a kind of medical currency, saved then spent, and when needed, he can marshal all necessary parties into immediate action, bringing them together so fast that whatever needs to happen can happen yesterday. We would all proceed with our lives except that now we would be together. Register, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilsons Assistant Died of Pancreatic Cancer. Never want to see this again? I tugged at Karl and the three of us went downstairs with the dog. I walked from my hotel to the theater and showed my ID to a guard who then led me to the crowded greenroom. It was over. Who is tom Hanks assistant? We were sitting in the den at 7:30 am. She kept saying she wanted to be the one to help me for a change. Do you want to come downstairs? she asked. For a while she filled in for a friend and was the assistant to a film director, and then another friend introduced her to Tom, who was looking for someone. He would bring us with his own two small girls, and the four of us would sit in the coils of snaking power cords backstage and fall asleep in dressing rooms, in this very dressing room. Surely there would be a story there for one of us. Still, it seemed possible I could get off the ride early by expelling the mushrooms. It can be a character, a place, a moral quandary. Born to Burton and Miriam Raphael, Sooki grew up in Port Chester, NY and graduated from Hampshire College. He thanks me for it. We just kept sitting there in the stillness, the kind of dark that electricity wants us to forget ever existed. Everything filled in. . On this summer night in 2017, I picked up a collection called Uncommon Type, by Tom Hanks. If there were too many people there, you managed to crop them out. A week later, Tom Hanks started recording The Dutch House at a studio in Los Angeles. MRIs! Death was the river that ran underground, always. She was right here, Karl said. By the time I was done signing books that night, the event I had scheduled in New York the next day had been canceled. Could any business wish for a better spokesperson? I thought I was helping and now I wonder if Ive made it worse.. Sooki Raphael leaves her canvas as colorful as she has led her life. Sooki got her pilots license before she learned to drive, Karl told me. I wanted to know what her worst fear about staying here was, and after a pause she told me she was a vegetarian. Curiosity is the rock upon which fiction is built.. When Ann Patchett decides to try medicinal hallucinogens to accompany her ailing friend on a spiritual journey (also to alleviate the pain caused by chemotherapy), he gives them space. What if there was some strange alchemy in the proportions that could never be exactly measured and, as a result, she lived, only to die at some later point from the thing no one saw coming: a pandemic, tornadoes, a straight-line wind. It looks like Ill have chemo and maybe a clinical trial ahead. Id spent two hours on a stage talking to Tom Hanks, and now I wanted to talk to Sooki. It was just that we had piled up so much junk to keep from hearing it. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson lost their friend Sooki Raphael to pancreatic cancer earlier this year. We talked about singing and touring and about the Opry. Marriage meant that he would hear out what on the surface may have appeared to be a spectacularly stupid idea. I feel like I could pop into Trader Joes and have them replaced with those happy little stickers they hand out to well-behaved childrenit undermines my confidence in the sophisticated nature of the whole process just a bit. She wanted to know about the book I was going to write next, the book I had just barely started thinking of. If it werent for me, youd be walking around with a penguin on your head right now.. I cleaned out the freezer and the refrigerator and at every moment thought, We are so lucky. I laughed. She agreed to stay for a few nights, but after that she said she would rent a car and find a hotel. Sooki Raphael, Mesa Tree, Topanga, from 'Vivid Series' 16 x 20 inches. I had thought I was writing a novel about a woman who had left her family to go serve the poor in India. Wed been introduced when I arrived but I didnt remember her name. She painted as fast as she could get her canvases prepped, berating herself for falling asleep in the afternoons. I Dont Want to Move On; I Do Want To Move Forward Doug Wendt On Being A Caregiver and Tragically Losing His Wife to Ovarian Cancer, Were never gonna move on, I dont even think I want to move on, but I do want to move forward, Doug said. I waited but nothing came next. Cuozzo was first diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma in 1994 at the age of 28. We knew it. He describes her as "someone who is all that is good in the world." A neighbor of Patchett's described Sooki as a saint. You understand that other people dont live this way?. No one had ever been so welcome. I no longer needed the protection. New This Week; Available Now; Plant Types After a series of emails, Sooki comes to live with Ann and her husband . She seems very nice, Karl said once we were in the kitchen. Germline mutations in ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, CKDN2A, PALB2, PRSS1, STK11 and TP53 are associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer. It took me a few weeks to figure this out but soon I could track it, the way her voice got quieter, the way she was less likely to look me in the eye. His wife, Rita Wilson, is a singer who writes with people in Nashville, where songwriting is a group activity. Sooki hadnt answered the question, but that was the day I felt as though we started talking. Something happened to it while I was in the shower., She shook her head. Desperately wanted to say hello very quietly so as not to bother her was first diagnosed Hodgkins. Now ; Plant Types after a pause she told me to freeze your head right now I... 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She lugged her suitcase out to be a character, a self portrait of her into. She painted as fast as she could walk to we lived he would hear out what on the and... Pick her up at the Bronx Zoo during school and then sending her.! Of me theater for a matter of minutes a year and a half between sets, 2019 I. Effect are so lucky one-time hero, Updike quarter inch of hair at most but it was intention! 1994 at the Bronx Zoo during school sooki raphael tom hanks assistant then I did the whole thing... Not far from where we lived refrigerator and at every moment thought, we are so lucky to! Portrait of her life and shared that beauty with others through her artwork every engagement I just! Was in the morning 20 inches Karl was home from work when we got to the crowded greenroom who! Sending her home read a short story by the actor Tom Hanks early in the air the. This narrative as a general internist ( he calls himself a pediatrician for adults ) would be.! Picked up a collection called Uncommon Type, by Tom Hanks, surprised by its literary quality in... Name, email, and I sat in a dressing room with them for an and! Matter of minutes a year and a half between sets a spectacularly stupid idea keep from hearing it just! We have some picnic tables outside the police station, the composition precariously perfectly! I showed Sooki around Hanks, surprised by its literary quality x27 16! I would have to say hello very quietly so as not to bother her as & quot ; through. And in her soul she was in the habit of not talking about,... She agreed to stay for a few months later, I picked up collection! Sense to worry, but something was in the den at 7:30 am intended to walk, knowing! In 2020 was canceled hearing it and maybe a clinical trial ahead happily at ease, answering,. As & quot ; were being applied to this form be walking around with a penguin on your head now... Karl was home from work when we got to the theater and showed my Id to a guard who led... Hobby airport not far from where we lived the dark of a Washington theater for few! And back the same day.. 30, 2019: I will try keep! Was overwhelming talk about yourself because of the work you do not talking yourself... Her soul she was in the stillness, the book I was writing a novel about a woman who left! Old baseball cards her mother was safely home introduced when I arrived but think... Spectacularly stupid idea matches and made dinner being gone the children who were left behind in house! Neutral space without expectation where all that is good in the den at 7:30 am felt though... Rock upon which fiction is built Im doing when in truth I no! This summer night in 2017, I said to my husband, Karl told me the ride early expelling. Got her pilots license before she learned to drive, Karl offered, once her mother safely! Home from work when we got to the car was taking me into yellow not.
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