Cancer sucks. It is a terrible disease that affects too many people not only in the country, but worldwide. The idea of your body turning against you and eating at itself is a very terrifying notion. Now no one likes the idea of ANYONE having cancer, but little babies getting the disease just as they enter the world tugs at your heartstrings even more. There was a time not so long ago when the mortality rate for children surviving cancer was 10-15%, and nowadays it’s much higher, and that’s by no small measure that it’s thanks to the efforts of Dr. Audrey Evans: the “Mother of Neuroblastoma.” Director Ami Canaan Mann’s latest film Audrey’s Children showcases her efforts to try and help young children at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and how she changed the game for oncology.
After paying her dues in medical school and hospitals across the world, British-born Dr. Audrey Evans (Natalie Dormer) is recruited by the not-yet Surgeon General of the United States Dr. C. Everett Koop (Clancy Brown) to join his staff at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to help further cancer research, specifically neuroblastoma, which primarily affects young children. But this is the late 1960s, sexism was still a big part of American culture at the time. So, in addition to helping solve the unsolvable regarding cancer research, she also must deal with a good old boy system at the same time.
As soon as she joins the hospital, Dr. Evans is ambitious. Wanting to tackle the issue head on, she is empathetic across the board. She’s empathetic to the sick children, she’s empathetic to the children’s parents, and she’s even empathetic to the mice and rabbits she does trial testing on. She quickly comes up with the idea of administering medicine in a much less painful way and combining drugs could be proven effective…she just needs support from upstairs. Not only is Dr. Evans the new girl in Audrey’s Children, she’s the only girl. So sexism can’t help but creep its ugly head into the conference rooms as everyone discusses different strategies. Her strategy (which will eventually be called “The Evans Staging System”) involves determining the disease progression, and then adjusting treatments for effectiveness, even to the point of changing the injection site for the medicine as needed. Something that seems simple nowadays was considered revolutionary back in 1969.
Working with colleagues Dr Dan D’Angio (Jimmi Simpson) and Dr. Brian Faust (Brandon Micheal Hall) as well as an aggressive charm offensive for Dr. Koop, Dr. Evans still needs funding to continue her research. One thing that comes across to her in Audrey’s Children is also the need for the hospital to provide support for not only the kids, but their families as well. People with sick children from all over the world are going to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in search of a miracle, that can impact them financially as well as emotionally. Dr. Evans comes up with the radical idea of having a home for families to stay at, so they don’t have to decide between staying at a nearby hotel or not being able to pay for their children’s care. But once again, this is the late 60s, and women weren’t even able to have their own bank account without their husband’s approval, much less purchase a home, which led to her second feat: helping co-found The Ronald McDonald House Charities, which opened their first home in Philadelphia and currently operates in 62 countries worldwide.
Audrey’s Children serves as a biographical film for Dr. Evans, who even managed to appear in the end credits of the film prior to her death in 2022 offering words of wisdom and taking a victory lap for such a life well lived. However, for such a remarkable person Audrey’s Children seems at times like it barely scratches the surface of her life. The film doesn’t spend much time with her outside of the hospital. The film alludes to her eventually marrying Dr. D’Angio when they are in their senior years, but the film doesn’t show her having many interpersonal relationships and even her relationship with Dr. D’Angio is mostly antagonistic until he cools down to her. Audrey’s Children probably could have used a script touch-up to help flesh out Dr. Evans when she’s not at the hospital.
That said, the performances in Audrey’s Children are great, especially from Natalie Dormer as she played the hell out of the impactful doctor as she goes through the many challenges of trying to slowly but surely change the world. Another surprise in the film is Clancy Brown. Known mostly for voicework (still the best Lex Luthor) and supporting roles, Clancy Brown is very good as Dr. C. Everett Koop. You can almost see the guy who made Surgeon General popular channeled in real time, complete with his famous beard-with-no-mustache combo.
Audrey’s Children serves as a great way to shine a light on someone who unfortunately seems to have been forgotten by history outside of medical communities. To come up with a way to increase the survival rate of child cancer from 10% to 80% is something that should be celebrated and showcases how much progress has been made in that field. While cancer still sucks, it’s good that at least for some children, it doesn’t suck so bad.
Audrey’s Children is now playing in theaters nationwide.
