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George McGovern

(9,680 posts)
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 08:40 AM Sep 30

Inspired by DU photographer HAB911and untold others -- The story behind "Ringing the Bell".



Ringing the bell marks a milestone in cancer treatment.

A rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, Irve Le Moyne, was undergoing radiation therapy for head and neck cancer and told his doctor, Kian Ang, M.D., Ph.D., that he planned to follow a Navy tradition of ringing a bell to signify “when the job was done.” He brought a brass bell to his last treatment, rang it several times and left it as a donation. It was mounted on a wall plaque in the Main Building’s Radiation Treatment Center with the inscription:

Ringing Out

Ring this bell
Three times well
Its toll to clearly say,
My treatment’s done
This course is run
And I am on my way!

— Irve Le Moyne
mdanderson.org
Ringing Out image found on the internet.
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Inspired by DU photographer HAB911and untold others -- The story behind "Ringing the Bell". (Original Post) George McGovern Sep 30 OP
Thank you, MysteriousStranger Sep 30 #1
Thankfully, you got to ring the bell. Blessings. efhmc Sep 30 #2
You are welcome MysteriousStranger. I cannot know all you have been through, and, George McGovern Sep 30 #3
have one at mine justaprogressive Sep 30 #4
Thank You justaprogressive. Good. George McGovern Sep 30 #5
1. Thank you,
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 10:44 AM
Sep 30

I did not know the story behind the bell that I was lucky enough to ring almost fifteen years ago.
Triple negative, stage 3 breast cancer was in my body. (I never call it "my cancer" because I don't want to "own" it).
Neuropathy, muscle spasms, lymphedema issues came after the treatments. But today, I am alive with a happy heart and a smile for everyone.

George McGovern

(9,680 posts)
3. You are welcome MysteriousStranger. I cannot know all you have been through, and,
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 11:19 AM
Sep 30

emerged from successfully. Your phrase about "today" says it all. Thank You!

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