A Sense of Pam Crocker-Davis

I wish to share part of a correspondence I had with Pam Crocker-Davis after I learned she had been diagonosed with cancer. Pam was still focused on the Bosnian student survivors of genocide in Bosnia that she had worked tirelessly to support, helping place them in schools throughout the West and then moving on toward the mid-West and South.. At the time we were working to place a student in my undergraduate alma mater, Gonzaga University. Even as she was fighting cancer, she continued to fight "ethnic cleansing" and the indifference to genocide in our own society, and continued to work, with love, care, dedication, and vision for a world with more justice.

Michael Sells

Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 14:06:03 -0500 From: PAMELACD@aol.com To: msells@haverford.edu Subject: Re: hello

> I heard or think I heard that you were ill. So I am writing to see how you are doing. I don't think I have your current number, so I'll have to make do with the e-mail.

Hello, Michael. Yes, I was recently diagnosed with cancer. It has metastized- so things are fairly intense right now! I'm not doing chemotherapy. Seems illogical to assume that by deliberately systemically poisoning your entire body you will get well! So this is becoming a sojourn into the depths of the American Medical Institution and the industry of Cancer. On the days I can disassociate from the fact that I am the patient - it is quite fascinating.

The Project mushes on though. Actually my illness has led to a very healthy delegation and dispersion of tasks! WE have ten students here in town now and I placed four others (or helped place) in New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri, and North Carolina. (Soon we will have one in Virginia, too. STill - frustrating. Because my files have 20 more students that really deserve a chance and may not get one.

> I'd like to call you sometime when you have the time, to see how you are doing and to mention a couple things about the Bosnian Student programs.

Love to talk some more. My phone number is 360-459-5340. Actually I'd been thinking about talking to you about Gonzaga again. Seems the time of year to ask about possibilitities for this fall.

Take Care and I look forward to visiting with you soon.

Pam Crocker-Davis