The Ecstasy of Learning Where Your Shadow Falls

Only rarely do we get to learn where our shadow falls.  Here is one of those instances.  Dr. John Graham-Pole, pioneer in bone marrow transplants for children (1979, Rainbow Babies and Children, Cleveland, Ohio: https://www.uhhospitals.org/rainbow/about/uh-rainbow-foundation ) and the arts-in-medicine movement (1991, University of Florida: https://www.artsinmedicine.arts.ufl.edu ), received this surprise email from a patient 38 years on. Subject line: Saying hello

From: Ted Haines
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2025 1:34 PM
To: john.gp@live.com
Subject: Saying hello… 

Hi Dr Graham Pole!

It’s been awhile. I just wanted to reach out and let you know that I am alive and doing well. I live with my wife and eldest stepson, Jacob, in Geneva, Florida, just north of Orlando. We have a loving double doodle named Bailey who recently got certified as a therapy dog. We plan on taking her to hospitals and the like so she can put smiles on people’s faces. I work as a video editor and won an Emmy a couple of years ago for a video I edited for the Ukrainian Ballet. My mother Nancy is now in her 80’s and she still lives in Tallahassee. My twin brother Rick who donated his bone marrow to me back in 1987 is a chiropractor in Gainesville. As I approach 40 years post-transplant, I feel so grateful to you for saving my life. I know there are hundreds if not thousands of others just like me who would be dead if not for you. You have truly made a difference in this world and I thank you for that.

Best,

Ted Haines

John does not remember Ted – he actively performed approximately 1000 bone marrow transplants over a 20+ year period (1979-2001).  At John’s request, Ted shared the missing details.

Dr. GP,

Thanks for the quick response. I’m happy to fill you in on the missing details. I actually had B-cell leukemia and Burkitt’s lymphoma and began seeing you in January of 1987. I went into the BMTU around Easter of that year and was discharged on June 6. Cancer free ever since. I’ve had cataract surgery in both eyes (2003ish), a surgery for a neural fibroma in my left arm (2000) which left me the ability to use, but not feel the first 3 digits of my left hand, type 2 diabetes (I’m 5’11” and 175 pounds, so some docs have posited possible pancreatic damage from radiation), I do have some minor issues with my short term memory, I’ve had my thyroid removed and my skin usually has a very ruddy color to it. Other than that, I’m in good health. I work out 2 days a week and to look at me you wouldn’t know my medical history.

I never knew Dr Slayton, but I was young and probably forgot a lot of people I met. 

Here’s a link to the video I edited for Nadiya Ukraine. It won a regional Emmy for Edited Special Event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6chgKUOw4ik&t=6805s

I love to hear that you and your wife are in Nova Scotia. I dated a woman from Cape Breton and she made me very interested in going there someday. My wife loves to garden too, and she has recently been harvesting the first mulberries, peppers, tomatoes and radishes of the season.

I am eager to check out your publishing company’s website. Thank you for that!

Best of everything to you and your family John!

Ted Haines

Video Editor

Sirius Creative, Inc.

PS – I don’t have any photos to send of when I knew you, but this was taken last week. This is my wife Amanda and Bailey the double doodle.

Ted was 13 years old in 1987. One of his fondest memories of Dr GP is playing poker with him in the BMTU. “I’m pretty sure he let me win.”  Play continues to figure in John’s treatment practice.

John and Dorothy have written about the gift economy — the gift that moves — in the context of their healing arts publishing house, HARP The People’s Press (www.tryhealingarts.ca). Beyond chance, we are learning now that Ted is paying forward the gift of life—the bone marrow from his identical twin brother and John’s care—by dedicating his life to the healing arts and the arts for health equity, which just happen to be this cancer doctor’s avocations in his post-professional life.

Beyond chance, Ted was moved to find John and tell him about the Emmy for the video he edited about the Ukrainian ballet, just as the US administration’s support for the Ukraine and President Zelensky is dwindling. Jonathan Maricle had the honor of receiving an EMMY for directing a live performance of the Ukrainian National Ballet, which aired on WUCF-TV  (University of Central Florida-Television) in 2023 and then nationally on PBS stations in the U.S. in 2023-2024. Jonathan expressed gratitude to the many others who participated in the making of the video, and who supported the project:

An EMMY is a result of a small village coming together to birth something wonderful—which all started from an event put together by Marc McMurrin and the Ginsburg Family Foundation, raising $800,000+ in humanitarian aid for Ukraine alongside the Olena Zelenska Foundation | Фундація Олени Зеленської, UNICEF USA and others.

There are 20 other people who should be on this stage with us—most of all the incredible dancers of the National Opera of Ukraine and International Ballet of Florida who trusted us to share their art with the world. Thank you to Mike Dunn, M.S. for bringing his creative vision and impeccable talent to this entire project, John David Harris for putting his thumbprint on every single part of this production, Adrenaline Films, Ben Clyde, Ted Haines, and everyone else involved for taking the ride.

This is only the beginning. Next up: a 2024 North American ballet tour and a documentary. Time to get to work.

The promotion for the video Nadiya Ukraine positions it soundly as art for health equity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAN_PuBg9Sg

 It makes abundantly clear that the Russian military invasion began the war in the Ukraine.

The historic performance by the National Ballet of Ukraine from the Taras Shevchenko National Opera House, live from the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Florida. Accompanied by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, this monumental performance unites Ukraine and America in the hope of Ukrainian independence and shares the light of hope to the world through the power of art. Selection: Excerpts from Don Quixote Performed by: Olesia Shaytanova, Mykyta Sukhorukova, Kateryna Dehtiarova, Tetiana Sokolova, and Ensemble. Presented by the Ginsburg Family Foundation, this performance was filmed and produced by the Parable Foundation, in partnership with Full Sail University. All proceeds raised are donated directly to Olena Zelenska Foundation, Razom, and UNICEF to provide humanitarian aid relief to Ukrainians impacted by Russian military invasion. Donate: https://ukraineballetbenefit.com/ To learn more about this event and the over $800,000 raised to date through this project, please use the link above and consider adding your donation to Ukrainian citizens in need of your help.

Think Global, Act Local permeates many HARP publications and the stories on the HARP website, including this one.

The opening credits to Nadiya Ukraine (Ted Haines’ Emmy for video editing) feature the words of Volodymyr Zelenskyy dated March 16, 2022:

“Right now the destiny of our country is being decided.

The destiny of our people…\

We are fighting for Europe and the world… To keep justice in history.”

John and Dorothy told this story to Ukrainian immigrant Nataliia, who works at Fresh Food Matters (Dine in and Catering: https://freshfoodmatters.ca/) in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. She was in tears.  Her mother and brothers are still in the Ukraine and she talks to her mother regularly.  She tells how she misses her mother terribly but knows that it brings comfort to her mother that she and her husband and children are safe in Canada.

Nataliia’s response to this story is echoed in the responses to the YouTube video:

 In memoriam, Oleksander Shapoval, unforgettable dancer, died in September 12 in Donetsk region, by this diabolic war, eternal man!

God bless you all, my dear Ukrainians! Dancers, you are so so graceful! Your performance brought tears! Thank you for sharing your passion!  May God bring wisdom to minds of all politicians to talk about peace and to stop unneeded deaths on our beautiful Ukrainian land!!!! God bless!

AMAZING PERFORMANCE, SLAVA UKRAINE, nobody could destroy your Art, Culture, Artists and History, Ukraine forever.