the ME film-In Production

In the first hours of a breast cancer diagnosis, surgeons frequently suggest women remove their breasts, lymph nodes and sometimes ovaries, as prophylactic for future cancers. Surgical survival rates are recorded though what about the “anecdotes” of people who have lived with cancer for a decade or more, declining allopathic treatments? Filmmaker Lexie Shabel and paternal fourth generation breast cancer recipient began filming the day of her diagnosis, directing herself as the alternative and complimentary treatment guinea pig. the ME film is accessible to a wide audience, those touched by cancer and those who appreciate an engaging human story with a cool soundtrack.

October 6th, 2005. After a clean mammogram and more than one benign tumor biopsy, Lexie is diagnosed with breast cancer. She’s two months shy of her thirty-ninth birthday, single, and in shock. Amidst that first week of hysteria, her only clear vision was to film her path. Award-winning directors and film mentors Michael Mierendorf and Dyanna Taylor took the helm initially with Mierendorf traveling to Lexie’s hometown in suburban New Jersey. Day in the life footage, interviews with family, childhood friends and doctors cement the surreal emotional process from madness to consideration of massive surgery, recommended given Lexie’s genes. Diary cams offer detailed accounts of chemotherapy as Lexie bought time before surgery and began to explore the spiritual, ayurvedic and emotional possibilities for this hastily growing tumor. In an attempt to connect with her family and heritage, Lexie requests the Jewish ritual of Shabbat be observed on each Friday’s chemo. These dinners brought childhood friends to her parent’s house and the first glimpse of Lexie’s father, Norman Shabel. His reluctance to be part of the filming momentarily fades as he fries his mother’s recipe for potato latkes. Jeanette Bagel Lakoff Shabel Wasserman, Norman’s mother, died fifteen years earlier after her second diagnosed breast cancer. Her first hack job mastectomy thirty years earlier remained a frightening memory for Lexie, where half of Grandma’s body was concave. Shabel asks the question if she was born to continue her father’s cancer lineage by investigating her youth through animated slides, Super 8mm home movies and childhood diaries.

After five of the six prescribed chemo treatments, Lexie decides to not have surgery, radiation, or more chemo despite emphatic opinion from her surgeons. Working with many alternative modalities including Well Breast Massage, European Mistletoe injections and Ayurveda, Shabel is learning to live with cancer. There are experts to be filmed including Dr. Ralph Moss of the Rudolf Steiner tradition and Dr. Harriet Beanfield who wrote a convincing paper on the history of breast cancer surgery that bolstered Shabel’s confidence to not have surgery. the ME film would also like to include Susun Weed who has offered earth-based healing to women for decades as well as Maya Tiwari who has made East Indian wisdom accessible to Westerners. Lexie is one of the first in New Mexico to receive a medical marijuana card and is filming the program’s development. The Breast Wishes Fund is the community outreach program around the ME film and offers integrative breast cancer treatment to women of all ages in addition to fun community events.