Martha Hall’s books encompass so much more than just words and pictures. There’s depth and elaborate metaphor to her writing that extends way beyond anything she could convey on paper. As I looked at her pieces they were ripped and burnt and stapled and sewn together. There were some books with beautiful handwriting and illustrations and colorful paper and others that were all black and scarce of words. The externalization of Martha’s internal consciousness, emotion and feeling were overwhelming. Her life, good and bad is poured out into her pieces.

A few books filled with poems and writing could never fully illustrate what it’s like to go through 16 years of cancer treatment and looking through her works evoked a sense of morbidity and embarrassment of our society. Doctors who don’t care about their patients and only want to diagnose and treat them and send them on their way shouldn’t be the norm.

A larger cultural change that could occur through sharing Martha’s story and books and works is the way doctors treat their patients. Medical School doesn’t teach doctors how to be personable and empathetic. It teaches them how to care for the patient physically, and the mental and emotional toll of whatever treatments the doctors are providing to the patient aren’t anything of importance. I don’t think it’s the doctor’s job to be their therapist, but when someone who is giving them potentially life changing news about their physical state can empathize and listen to them and their feelings, it can really alleviate some of the hardships the patient is experiencing. Changing the ways doctors interact with their patients on a personal level is a positive cultural shift that would benefit our society.