Audrey Hepburn cancer awareness

A couple of days ago, I received a letter from a doctor in India about Audrey. An introduction isn't really necessary, so here is the letter in full:

Hello,

There is something common in our interest..like Audrey Hepburn. I am always the Fan of Lady Audrey Hepburn. Great charity is done by Hepburn team.

I stumbled on your site while I was surfing the net. .

It is a meticulously prepared site.Congratulations.

Audrey died of advanced colon cancer. It made me think a lot. Colon cancer is one of the cancers which has best prognosis if treated early. Still many patients reach the expert medical aid at little later stage. I felt this is happening because of less awareness.

It is always admirable if intelligent proactive persons from community get organised for noble cause. Nothing is more precious than life. Every saved life is an achievement. We can educate masses regarding early diagnosis of cancer. Info should make people aware of the apparent low profile presentation of the disease. If the rational decisions are taken quickly, the results are quite good.
Knowledge Helps. .
Let us join hands to fight cancer.

We must thank film industry and Audrey Hepburn for providing us beautiful moments with so many films like Roman Holiday, Sabrina and many others.

Regards

Dr. Shriniwas Deshpande

Surgeon, Samarth Gastroenterology

Pune

India

The letter is deeply touching and, I feel, very important. Most types of cancer can be easily treated and possibly cured completely if caught early enough, and all it takes is a little extra awareness. We lost a beautiful person to this affliction, but maybe with a little effort we can keep others from succumbing to this disease.

Interestingly enough, another Audrey Hepburn tie-in with cancer awareness came to me today. The Smoking Gun has recently added a film clip archive section to their site and there are a couple of Audrey clips worth noting. The first is a public service announcement she and Mel Ferrer did backstage during the run of Ondine, and is for cancer research. You can view the whole film here. I'm not sure if the full announcement has ever been widely available before -- I've only ever seen the first 30 seconds or so myself.

The other clip worth mentioning is a film reel about the 1965 Oscar ceremonies, when Audrey presented My Fair Lady co-star Rex Harrison with the Best Actor statue, which you can see here.


Last for today, there's a new shoe shop in Ireland that is very Audrey inspired. Called The Shoe Gallery, its walls are covered in pictures of Audrey Hepburn and even the merchandise itself is inspired by her taste in clothing, according to The Athlone Advertiser. It sounds like it would be great fun to shop there!