In 2024, Hess was diagnosed with colorectal cancer that had metastasized to his lung. Because the tumor was so large that it was impeding his breathing, he sought the medical advice of Gregory C. Kane, MD, ’87, FEL ’93, the Jane & Leonard Korman Professor and Chair of Medicine.
When Hess and his partner, Jan Valentic, attended their first appointment with Kane, they were expecting a quick visit that was strictly clinical and impersonal, considering the primary cancer was not lung cancer. What they got surprised them.
“He spent a full hour with us. He brought up images of my CT scan, which no other doctor had done. He explained all of the imaging, using metaphors we could understand to better explain what was going on, and what his perspective was on it. And so, the medical part was excellent, but really the reason that he stood out was the feeling of being seen and heard and cared for,” Hess says. “His treatment and his caring of me was extraordinary. There was a clear recognition that when you were in the room with him, you were the only thing that mattered.”
Because of that outstanding care provided with compassion, Hess and Valentic established the Dr. Gregory C. Kane Pulmonary and Critical Care Education Fund to support Kane’s work training the next generation of pulmonary specialists.
To describe Kane, Hess thumbs through journalist Bill Moyer’s book, “Healing and the Mind” and stops to quote a passage from a physician interviewed by the author:
“… I know who the great doctor is, and the also-ran. And the difference between the great doctor and the also-ran is not how much he or she knows, but what he or she brings to the patient as a human being... I see the people who rise above the others, who serve as mentors. They have something extra.”
“Dr. Kane is a great example of that,” Hess says, noting that he and his partner created the new education fund because, “It’s important to pass on his skill and training and his way of treating patients to doctors coming up because other patients besides ‘Charlie’ need to get treated that way.”
