Special Episode: Seeing Cancer Through a Different Lens

A cancer diagnosis can put your life on pause. In this special episode, Emmy Award-winning Director and Cinematographer Reed Morano shares the struggle and the resilience of her cancer story.

 She directed our #WhatScienceCanDo films, which you can watch here: https://bit.ly/47nQ3Ui.

Transcript

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Hello everyone, and welcome to That's understandable. I'm your host, Brendan McEvoy, US head of external communications at AstraZeneca. Today I'm joined by a special guest. Reed Morano Reed is an American film director and cinematographer. She's the first woman in history to win both the Emmy and Directors Guild Award for directing a drama series in the same year, for the pilot episode of The Handmaid's Tale. I can personally attest to Reed's passion for storytelling. She directed AstraZeneca, recently released What Science Can Do films. And I got to spend a few days with her on set. Reed has more than a passing interest in helping craft our stories and with good reason. She has a powerful story of her own to tell and a message worth hearing while preparing for her directorial debut, meadowland. Reed received a cancer diagnosis during the pre-production of the film. Reed began an intense treatment regimen which resulted in her cancer enter remission. Right as filming was set to start. But her journey was just beginning. I'm so glad to have you with us here today, Reed, and honored that you want to share your story with us. Thanks for having me. So let's start with a bit of an introduction. Could you share a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and what inspired you to become a filmmaker? Well, I am from the East Coast mainly. We moved around a lot when I was growing up, but I was born in Nebraska. It was only there till I was eight months old, and pretty much from there went back to, you know, the East Coast, New York area, New Hampshire, Vermont, a little bit New Mexico. And I had to sort of move around a lot and make new friends at the same time. And at some point, my, my father, who travels a lot for work and was a huge lover of film and movies, I got, he cured somehow an old, like, one of those giant, VHS, like those cameras that had a higher tape within the VHS tape. And then, you know, you, fade in and fade. He kind of pretty much put it in my hands. And I was like, you're going to be the family documentarian. And, I was like, nah, I'm all right. And it was like, oh, you're doing it. Here's how you do it. And then I guess after that point, my mom said, I never really put the camera down. And, you know, I think it was a way for me to, you know, tell stories that I had been previously writing, but like, through another, in another format, basically. So you said. Right. So were you were you writing sort of stories, you know, as you were growing up as well? Yeah. When I was, I think it was even before I started really writing, actually, I was making books and stapling the pages together, and I was doing it from the time I started in school. And I think even when, I was very young, when we lived in this place, Fire Island, obviously such a Long island. And there was only 32 kids in the whole school. And my teacher put some of my books into the Fire Island. The word house, school, library, which, you know, there's only 32 kids in as altos inks, but, yeah, I used to love writing, and and I used to spend all my days writing on my mom's Commodore 64. And eventually when I got to high school, I started in photography and, you know, I think that's because of the video camera that my father had given me. And so, you know, when it came time to decide what I was going to do for college and going forward, he was like, well, you love, telling stories and you love taking pictures. So she was like, you should go to film school now. That's awesome. Is that so? Like today, as you think about, you know, fast forward to now, is it that is it the love of storytelling? Is that sort of what, is why you love filmmaking and directing so much? Or is there, you know, there's something else to it? Well, there's a lot of part to it. I think one part is the one main part, obviously, is trying to create emotion while trying to find the sort of get to the heart of, you know, somebody's internal journey, their struggle to try to capture. I mean, that's the thing I think we always try to do in storytelling is try to to find a new way to sort of make the audience be, you know, surprised they can have that feeling from what they're watching. And, I think, you know, trying to define and definable and, so that's probably the more in-depth answer. But the, the shorter, long and short of it is I just as soon as I started going on to I love child camera and so I meant the camera. So I don't think I consciously knew that till I went on to a film set and realized that was actually a job to be a cinematographer. And, I love the the life of being on set, being with the crew, working with like a whole team of hundreds of people to make one thing together. It's just a really amazing bonding process and, and really inspiring. And, and you share something that, you know, a feeling on set that you can never replicate. And yeah, and it will always be different and individual to every job. And as you're saying that, you know, I'm reflecting on, on the time this past summer working together and that was my first time ever, you know, on a on a set and I mean, I mean, I still kind of it's, it's so vivid for me how cool of an experience it was, you know, thinking about, to your point, sort of how many players it takes to sort of make it all happen. But then also just, I mean, the dynamics. Right? I've sort of seeing you interact with, with the actors, with the, you know, the, the, you know, all the different, you know, components and all the people that make it happen. So, yeah, I mean, it's a for for most they probably will never get that experience. Right. And, and being on a set. But it's something for me that I, you know, definitely you know, remember for for a long time. Yeah. It's kind of it's very it's like I always think of it like you're in a traveling circus, kind of, it's very weird. But you get bonded to these people like they're your fam on. In a best case scenario, everyone becomes family. And for me, on most sets, that's really, really what it has been. Which is why I love working that way. You know, it's it's, everyone gets locked into what's happening on the monitor and you can see, you know, everyone from the producers to, like, the grips and the pants are like, you know, get tears in their eyes. And it's really special. Yeah, yeah. So you're doing what you love. Your career is on the rise. You're in the middle of shooting a project as the director of photography, and then boom, right. You're diagnosed with cancer. So how did you how did you find out about your cancer diagnosis? Well, I had actually, I just finished shooting a really long series, this show, HBO show called LA thing that was on, you know, a while back, and, I was in San Francisco for about six months working that show. I was the cinematographer on all eight episodes, which is not usually. Usually there's, you alternate episodes because it's a lot of work. So I was just going straight for that whole time, and, I'm sure my immune system was run down, but I was just kind of going a lie. And I went back home to be with my kids for a little bit. Then I went to Portland to go to Cinematography Festival. I was on the jury, and the first day I got there, I looked in the mirror and I noticed there was a lump on the left side of my neck that was protruding, like it was very obvious. And I was like, what is that? I touched it, I knew it was hard and it didn't move, and I just, I didn't know that much about cancer. But I just heard if you ever have a lump and it's hard and it doesn't move that it could be that. And, I was there for the next seven days because I was on a jury, and so I couldn't really go to the doctor. I went to a doctor at a clinic there, but I didn't, you know, he didn't speak English. So no real answers from that. So I had a wait. And, when I got back. So I went to an auntie who did a biopsy and then promptly sent me to just basically say, you need to get this removed, whatever it is, it's atypical cells. And, my, my aunt, who was a nurse in the city at the time, had knew a lot of doctors. And so she had a recommendation to go to, I had a neck surgeon, Doctor Adam Jacobson, who, worked at the time at Beth Israel. And, so I went to him and he did the same thing, a biopsy and he was sort of like, you know, we just need to, I think, take this out, whatever it is. But we have to get rid of it. So, you know, he didn't make any snap judgments, but I'm sure at that time he probably knew what it was. So when I was doing the surgery, my, my mom, my mom and my husband were at the, you know, at the hospital waiting. And while I was still under, the doctor came out and said, you know, we discovered that, you know, we took out the it was a lymph node that had become infected. And, it became cancerous. And so usually in that area, it comes from one of two places, either the tonsils or the base of the tongue. And, so was like, is it all right if I poke around to see if I can find where the where the source is, you know, because it'll be easier for me now if I just take it right out, if it's in the right place. So he did that. They some. Yeah of course. And he did that. And then he discovered that it was not unfortunately not on my tonsils which would have been a lot simpler. Still a problem. But because of where it was positioned all the way down the base of my tongue, they had to, do extreme chemo and radiation because they just at that time, anyway, they would never operate there because of where it's position, you know, depending on how big the tumor is and was positioned, it was sort of a stage two cancer at that point. And they didn't if they had operated, there was a high risk or a high likelihood of me becoming, handicapped for life. Like basically I wouldn't be able to speak anymore or eat food by mouth. So they were I was like, I didn't feel I really had a choice at that point. I just, you know, to their recommendation, you know, I was going to ask sort of about, you know, based on, you know, the setting of where you were in your career and just about to start this film and then and then having this happen. You know, what was that process like for you to sort of determine, that you were going to prioritize your health? But I think you kind of set it right there. Right? There really wasn't a choice. You know, it was. Yeah. There wasn't really a choice. I mean, I guess I was in a bit of a bind because of a few for a few reasons. One, I didn't I never been faced with a huge health decision before like that. I have children and things like that, but I never was really sick. I was always pretty healthy my whole life, knock on wood, which is very lucky. So it was really bizarre thing. And and as a family, we were I was at the start of my career. So, you know, we were not financially stable. So there wasn't really a scenario in which we could, like, I could just stop working for a minute and we could think about like potentially alternative, routes. It didn't really, and I didn't know enough, I guess, about health in general to really think you didn't take that advice. It wasn't painted as a bad option. It was painted as sort of a and I think for some people it is some people. It was a simpler process for me. I didn't know all the things that were to come. I thought, okay, I'm going to do three months of chemo and radiation and then I'll be back to work again. You know, just to say, all right, this really stinks, but I have to do it. You know, they asked me if I wanted to reduce my anxiety to something. And, you know, again, we were pretty poor and that wasn't really even an option. And I was like, I'm not going to be really I'm lucky enough to have two healthy boys. I right now, I just need to get rid of whatever this is and do it fast. Because I was kind of a workaholic and I was not used to missing more. And what was that? You know, as you were balancing going through this treatment and doing the prep work for meadowland, like how, how was that like how were you able to balance that. And you know, you know, in terms of how you were feeling as you going through the treatment, what sort of obstacles or, you know, symptoms. You know, we were pretty deep. We were pretty, far off from shooting at the time. When I got the diagnosis, however, I was in prep for another film that was supposed to be, to shoot as a cinematographer. And, that was going to to hold me, hold us over until I started directing meadowland. You know, sometime later the next year. So I played Nurse in December. The treatment started in January. I remember the first few weeks I felt pretty much fine, and I had to go to Sundance because I had a film, showing at Sundance. At that time, I believe it was The Skeleton Twins. Maybe I had another film there, two at the same time, but I couldn't really participate in the Sundance, you know, life. I was tired, very tired at night. I wasn't drinking, obviously, because I was on my treatment already and nobody knew. So I was just kind of going about early and being a little sort of unsocial at this event that was supposed to be to, you know, promote myself. And, that was odd. And then and I, you know, I would say about three weeks into the treatment I had planned, I thought I would still be able to work and do some jobs. But when I when they told me the treatment schedule, actually that was when I was like, that was the first time I really got upset because they were like, you know, I figured I'd just go and get the radiation when I'm on lunch. The movie I was shooting in New York City. This is perfect, you know? And, you know, every day on set, lunch, the time, lunches, changes and, you know, they're the people at the hospital were like, no, you just you come in when we tell you, you know, you're going to eat something every day, and that's going to be probably at the same time most then you can't miss it and etc.. And I was like, this is obviously not going to work. So I had to actually leave the job, which meant our family then had, you know, one less income. And then ultimately my husband, at the time, he she had to also stop working because bouts. We were three weeks into my treatment. I remember I was having like brunch with my family. My mom was visiting and everything, and I said to them, I feel like this is going to be my last meal. And they were like, what are you talking about? Like, you're fine, you know? But I could already tell things were tasting weird. Everything was much more sort of, like I was feeling it a lot more like. And, I didn't know where was your name, but I just had this weird feeling. And literally the next day, I was in so much pain in my mouth that I couldn't, drink water even. And then I knew I had to get, what I had been trying to avoid with the treatment, which what they said they don't do for everybody anymore, they used to automatically do it was give you a feeding tube. And so I probably went for about a week without food and very minimal liquids and, until they had scheduled a time for me to get a feeding tube. And so, you know, at that point, my, my husband had to stop working, too, because it became like a full time job to take care of me. So I, you know, it's I'm sure listeners, you know, who have been through either similar situations themselves or a family, you know, the family member can relate that it's sort of this journey, right, where there is not necessarily a, you know, one path or, sort of like a clear line on how each person that's going to navigate it and how you kind of encounter those situations and deal with them. You know, I, one of the things that is striking me as we're talking is, you know, this there seems to be, in a way, you tell this story, this sense of optimism, right, in that you, kind of just continue to push through and you know, keep going. So, you know, I'm I'm curious, like what was talked about your, you know, your family and your kids and your career are those were those kind of the things that you, you know, thought about to kind of push you through as you were, you know, heading on this journey or was there were there other sort of, you know, contributors to maintain that, that that optimism to, you know, to, you know, progress through the journey? Well, you know, I am and generally optimistic person I always have been. And I'm, the type of person where there's a setback. I, you know, it's still will get to me, but I'll, I'll use it as an in a way to myself, almost like an opportunity to, to prove to myself that I can achieve something. So I remember believing at the time and thought about this in a while, but I remember thinking when I got to Kanto, I was like, well, I'm going to shoot my film while I have cancer. You know, like I'm going to still shoot, like. And then when I found out I couldn't, that's when I got a bit depressed. Then when I couldn't eat food, you know, that's when I really got depressed because I think people don't realize how big of a part that is. It's hard enough for I think anyone going through cancer, everyone's cancer journey is so individual, and there's no way one thing to peer to the other. Everyone's dealing with their own thing is, as much as there are similarities from treatment to treatment or situation to situation, it's like you just never compare. And I, I just remember thinking like, wow, I had to get the one that makes it so I can eat food like I it was like, like that's like the one thing I could still, you know, food is so comforting. And to me, and that's when I really went into a dark place and I, I guess I must must've sort of stayed in bed for that whole week. Like, you know, when I first found out and, I ended up getting, like it, you know, deep vein thrombosis in both my legs. I think it was. And then I had to start, you know, being on blood centers on lab and OCS and, you know, my husband had to do give me shots in my abdomen, like, every to every single day. And I had to do that for like three months. But anyway, I, I did have the kids there. They were very young and they weren't in school yet. They were like five and three. My two sons, and they were they would come into the room, into my bedroom and come and like check on me and like visit me with me and talk to me and, and, you know, there was a period of time where I couldn't toss towards the second half of the treatment, past the treatment. I didn't talk for about two months because of how the mucositis in my mouth and everything was just became so difficult that it was it was unnecessary pain. And so I even had the dry erase board I would write on. And my oldest son had like started to learn to write. And so she would write me a message. Even though he could talk to me, she would be back and forth with me on drivers. So I think in a lot of ways, the kids were the biggest, you know, getting to it for the kids was a really huge reason. I mean, there was a there was the game my summers playing at the time on the Xbox. I forget what it was, but it was it was a little kids game, but it had this character whose mother becomes ill and dies, and my, you know, their dad at the time was like, realize that. And I was like, oh God, you know, he had been playing this game prior to when I got sick. So anyway, I just really felt like I never really thought, I was in danger of. But I knew I was in danger of potentially being having an irreversible handicap that could change my life forever. So, you know, even though I, I felt that, I guess I sort of felt like I had to just whenever I was feeling sorry for myself or feeling, you know, really low placed. I would see the kids and that would make me feel like I'm having, I'm doing this so I shouldn't for myself. So I shouldn't be with them so I can be better for them, you know? Yeah. I, I really can't thank you enough for sharing, you know, that I am being so vulnerable in sharing your story because, like I said, I think, you know, I'm obviously, you know, touched by hearing it, and and I can imagine that it's kind of, like I said, resonate with so many. It just. And how, you know, and how, you know, one unfortunate, a diagnosis of cancer is right and how it flips your life around. But, you know, you in listening to you share it, you know, how the sort of the resilience in, you know, progressing through that journey and staying optimistic and, you know, I just think it's, you know, I'm personally grateful that you're, you know, that you're here to share that story, you know, with with all of our listeners. I, I did, before before we stopped, I, I did want to, you know, ask a couple other questions, if that's okay. And so when we were last together, when we were together for the shoot a few months back, you mentioned that you were, you know, somewhat forced if you were to believe in a trust in in what science can do. And I think that, you know, that happens to a lot of people, they're, you know, they're pushed to the brink, or have an unexpected diagnosis or medical condition. And science feels like a bit uncertain. Right? It's an uncertain world in which you're kind of thrown, and so, you know, in your, your specific experience, what were sort of the, you know, the, the benefits or drawbacks of, of leaning into that science or trusting in that science when you had, you know, when you were, when you were diagnosed. Well, I mean, obviously the ultimate benefit is that I am here and able to share this story with you. I didn't realize. I guess I didn't realize even though stage two, you know, to me, I was like, well, I don't think that that's as big a deal, but I did have to deal with it. I had to deal with it because it would become a very big it would spread and it could become worse. And, you know, I think the ultimately, you know, that treatment at that time when I had it, which was back in 2014, it was a pretty, barbaric treatment at that time because people, you know, as we do, you know, over time, science, you know, catches up and learns. And it's oftentimes through the treatments change over time. And they they become more, you know, as as people learn more, they become more tolerable, usually a little bit. Maybe there's parts that were unnecessary that were done that they learn about later. And at that time it was very new and they didn't know much about it. So they had to sort of throw everything at the wall. Got, you know, you have to have the max amount of radiation and chemo to ensure you don't because they wouldn't like we we would never operate on that tumor to take it out unless it was the absolute last resort, unless you go through this crazy treatment and somehow it's still there, then there is a chance we might have to operate. And so, of course, you know, from the time I finished my treatment in March to the time I was able to get the answer about whether or not it worked, which was June beginning of June. So that was three months of like waiting to find out. Is that even worked? I knew there was a chance still, that there was a small possibility that I might have to have that surgery, which would make me unable to speak or eat. And I was, you know, I wasn't really worried until the very last few days. Then I started to get worried about it, but ultimately it ended up being a positive outcome in the sense that they got rid of the cancer. And, you know, at the time I couldn't eat or, you know, I wasn't eating solid food. I had a feeding tube until there was a lot of sort of effects that I wasn't. Where could happen, I guess. I didn't know how important it was to do certain things that they told me to do, which I realize now I shouldn't have done anyway. Like there was these swallowing exercises and all these things, and if I could go back in time, I would have tried a lot harder to do all those things to help myself, because I have a lot of problems now with that. But I could not because my reaction to the treatment was so extremely horrible. And it's not like that for everybody, but I'm one of the people who had it like that, so there was no way for me to know. And I, you know, came out of it, you know, not I was like, Gabriel Angel light. It came from February until like the end of October of that year. Even after I found out I was in remission in June, I was in so much pain all the time following it. And then I had my feeding tube in from, you know, beginning of February till August, basically. Right before I, you know, I around July 31st is when I got the feeding tube out finally and we started shooting meadowland in, life around August 13th, August 12th or something. And all that was fine, but like, you know, a lot of things happened where you like your don't work right afterwards. And I think there was a lot, a big focus. There's a lot of focus on how to get rid of cancer, but not a lot of focus on what people who've had cancer deal with. After having a treatment like that, because you're never the same. And in my case, I was dealing with an atrophy and my jaw atrophy and my main muscle in my neck. So my arm wasn't working, you know, anywhere where the fibrosis in radiation happened, it was worsening over time. I didn't realize I was getting worse over time. I thought if anything, I was going to get better. And then later, you know, in 20 about six years later, I started having issues speaking and swallowing. I didn't realize that were related to the cancer because it had been six years. So I was kind of like, what? Even this side. It took me, about two years of eventually I finally figured out a probably had something to do with that. And I went to see some doctor at my doctors in New York, and they were like, listen, it's radiation. It's neuropathy, probably. But we don't really, you know, nothing you can do about it. Just going to the radiation never leaves you. It it sort of is there. That's this is the problem. You know, it's like and I remember my radiation oncologist at the time had said when I was in treatment had said, you know, I know this is really hard when I couldn't speak. And I felt he was like, but you, I have to kill some of you in order to save all of you. And that's true because there's parts that don't are of me that are never going to be the same. Most people might not know, but there's times, you know, starting in 2020 where I started to have this speaking issue where occasionally if I got tired and stuff my the left side of my tongue would just stop working. So it sort of sounded like I was flying my words, you know? And I couldn't just go around telling everyone, hey, I'm so sorry. This is because the cancer. No, there's like a joke I had with someone I worked with a long time ago where she's like, oh, is that because of the cancer? You know, because, like, we kind of were on a joking, you know, thing about it. But this was prior to me, I mean, the speaking and swallowing issue, which then I was like, what is this? And it took me two years to find this amazing, doctor in sat in Sacramento at UC Davis, doctor, Peter Belafsky, who's doing a, Stem cell clinical trials for the very thing that I have. Apparently, it's like a very rare condition that less than 10% of patients who had had enough cancer get about anywhere from 5 to 8 years after treatment, which is essentially this intermittent, this sort of disintegration of like, you know, deterioration of your ability to to speak and swallow. And I asked him, well, what happens to the people who are further along in it than me? And he was like, they are on feeding tube site permanently. And I was like, the speaking thing, what about the speaking thing? Because sometimes I can't it sounds like I, you know, the speech that you sort of like there would be a moment where I couldn't I knew the word I wanted to say, but I couldn't. I knew I wasn't going to be able to pronounce it. And I'd be like on pitches with, you know, trying to pitch a movie to a studio or something. And suddenly I and I'd have the exact right description that I was going to talk about. And then suddenly I knew I felt it coming on, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to say the next word. And I'd have to very quickly, without skipping a beat, think of what's going to be the next how am I going to say this differently, but with the same like emphasis that's going to sell it. But also, they don't know when I'm going through. And, and when the swallowing thing would happen, I couldn't speak or swallow at all. So it was just totally random would happen. Anyway. So once I met that doctor that following summer, this was last summer now. So a year ago, I started, you know, I basically started getting injections of my stem cells all in that area. And, you know, I don't know the outcome. Yeah. It's a double blind study, so they don't doctors don't know. And I don't know whether or not I actually got to my own stem cells or if it was just a placebo. But it's been like night and day for me so far. So even if it is a placebo effect, which I really don't think it is, I actually they must have gotten the stem cells because it's so different. If we had if I hadn't gotten that on this call, you know, on this podcast, we would be, you know, you we would have had to take a few breaks and you would have heard it happen and coming out. And it's really a scary thing, because my whole job is based on being able to communicate, not everyone wants needs to eat, you know. So yeah. Anyway, that's helpful. Like, you know, the part where I had that happen, that is the part where I'm like, this makes me so mad that I had to do this. But then the part where I met doctor ask you to, you know, I'm like, she's doing something to her science as well, you know, like we're learning new things every day and and miracles, you know, there are some things that can happen that are really great. Data can come out of it. Yeah, but you have to be really careful and know that there are risks involved. Yeah. No. Yeah. Thank you. It's all it's all very, you know, fascinating. Especially when you think about sort of, you know, being in remission from cancer and then having effects later down that road. Right. Things that you wouldn't be able to be able to predict. I guess my, my final question for you read is just, you know, how are you today? Like, how is you know, what's what's life like today? You know, I, I feel like I, I, I, we leave our listeners hanging. Right. If I didn't sort of ask you, like, just simply how how are you today? Very. I mean, I'm very grateful because I can have. First of all, I can do this towards you and you can understand the words that I'm saying for the most part, it's not always easy. There are still good days and bad days. You know, yesterday I was having a bit of trouble. It's. But it's nothing like when it was really bad. But I, you know, I can feel that uncertain days I have, I can feel my tongue, my slow kind of struggling to, to sort of do what it has to do its job. But today I feel good and, and I think that's, you know, I also feel a lot more aware about how to take care of my body. I know the things that it needs. So much of the medicine you need is what you put in your body, like your food. And, I was not the healthiest person beforehand. And so I feel like today I'm, you know, happier because I feel like I'm more in control of the direction my my health is taking because of how aware I had to become going through this process. And I'm just grateful that, you know, I obviously wish I didn't have cancer, but at the same time it has, you know, I have to I did have it. There was no choice. I went through it. It was happened, it happened. And I can't change that. So I try to look at the positives that came out of it, which is that you know it as a person. It it sort of widened my changed my view of the world, change my view of people around me, changed how I am, my attitude about things. And, you know, it makes you, make the most of what you're in. And so, you know, I always know the situations I'm in, even if it gets bad or it gets stressful. I've been probably to a worse place. It's a hub for. It's helpful in those moments to be to think, like, okay, you know, whatever. Everyone I love is healthy right now. That's actually my biggest fear after cancer is and just really don't want anyone around me to get to have to go through that. I feel like I'm strong enough to probably go through it again. Unfortunately, if I had to, that's not my biggest fear. My biggest fear is literally anything happening to anyone I love, you know, or my friends. And so I but I do think I just feel happy to be here and be able to carry on this conversation, you know? Yeah. Yeah. No. Thank you. I'm glad. I'm glad you're here, too. And, you know, I thank you again for for this conversation, for sharing your story, for being so vulnerable and, and also, you know, for taking this experience and, and, you know, fueling the work that we were able to do together. You know, I'm really excited for, you know, for people to, to see these, these films that were directed by you and filmed by you and, and as well as, you know, there'll be some some footage of sort of behind the scenes, if you will, of you as well in making these films. I'm really excited. So just a huge thank you. I really, really appreciate it. Thanks, Brendan. I mean, it was really it was a great experience. And it was, I'm really glad that, you know, it turned out the way that it did. We were able to, I think, capture some. It's very hard in a short amount of time on, little spots like that to try to capture the type of emotion I know you guys wanted to convey. I just feel like, you know, it was. It's there when you get to have that beautiful of an experience on something which is so short, you know. Yeah. No, it's I think in, just in sharing the films with, you know, some, some colleagues and some other, you know, inside and outside the company, the reaction has just been really positive. I think it just really resonates and really the spirit of, of what we're trying to do in, you know, showing the, the impact that innovation has through a very personal, you know, humanistic way I think really comes through there. So thank you for partnering on this. And, and and thank you for this conversation. Thank you. Great. So for for our listeners, to to see those films, directed by Reed and some other behind the scenes footage, you can check out whatsciencecando.com. We'll also include that link in the show notes for easy access. Thanks again for listening. And as always, be well, be healthy, be understanding.