Audrey's Children is a well-acted, interesting film, with plenty of drama–mainly between the fiery Dr. Evans and her more conservative superiors.
Audrey's Children (2024), now streaming on Peacock, is a medical success story. When British-born Dr. Audrey Evans (English actress Natalie Dormer of “Hunger Games” and “Game of Thrones” fame) began her four decades of work in 1969 at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), “only 10% of children with cancer lived. Now, [thanks partially to her efforts] nearly 80% survive.” This summary of her work and persistent determination is flashed on the screen at the end of the film.
In it we see this determined oncologist fight for her views of how best to treat neuroblastoma, a type of cancer usually affecting very young children. As she tells a hospital board at CHOP, “I have bold ideas on neuroblastoma, the deadliest solid tumor in peds. Our standard therapy regimens of single agent chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation are simply not aggressive enough to handle such a sinister disease. I have been tracking a new method called combination chemotherapy, mixing approved medicines in low doses. It has shown to be tremendously successful in leukemia patients, and I think could be equally beneficial for neuroblastoma.” (Film quotes are taken from the filmscript, which is closely adhered to.)
Although technological developments have not always led to the extension of life–witness Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945–those in medical technology gradually prolonged it so that between 1900 and 2023 global life expectancy increased by about 40 years, well into one’s 70s. (In 1997, 97 percent of the deaths of children under five occurred in the “developing world,” where such technology was scarcely available.) What distinguishes this technology is pains-taking research, peer reviews, and careful testing, and Audrey's Children displays Dr. Evans’ research being indeed thorough, and carefully examined by other doctors.
In addition, she also co-founded the Ronald McDonald House Charities. And on screen at the end of the film we read, “As of 2024, Ronald McDonald House has over 1,000 programs in 62 countries caring for millions of families.” This program was part of her holistic approach to healthcare–caring for and zeroing in on the various material and emotional needs of not only her young patients but also their parents. It is entirely appropriate that the film ends with a Carole King’s song “You’ve Got a Friend” and its words:
When you're down and troubled
And you need some loving care . . .-
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there.
Appropriate because she was that kind of doctor–one who always tried to be there for her very young patients. One reason for her complete dedication was that she had no children of her own–she remained unmarried until age 79 (she lived into her late 90s) –and she could devote full time to her patients. But her intense devotion did produce some problems. Her boss, surgeon-in-chief at CHOP, is C. Everett Koop (played by himself), later in the 1980s U. S. Surgeon General, and at times he tells her “no” and even on one occasion suspends her from some of her duties.
Her “problem” is similar to that of many dynamic, intense individuals within a large bureaucracy. Such an organization tends to be more conservative, less risk-taking, than an individual like Dr. Evans.
She was also devoutly religious, an Episcopalian, and one of those people whose religion seems to make a better person. As long as one is humble and tolerant, not “an ideological Christian,” as Pope Francis described some intolerant Christians, that often seems to be the case.
In summation, Audrey's Children is a well-acted, interesting film, with plenty of drama–mainly between the fiery Dr. Evans and her more conservative superiors. And it enhances our hopes that people like her can continue to challenge larger, more bureaucratic systems.
