Co-founder and Staff Oncologist, California Cancer Associates for Research and Excellence; and DrSteven.com, San Diego, California
[as told to David McKay Wilson]
“My dad [Barry Eisenberg, DO ’71] believed in the connection between artistic expression
and healing. During medical school, I found my dad’s old guitar and taught myself
to play. After I moved to San Diego, and the practice I’d joined broke up in a contentious
divorce, I was feeling down. I entered a contest held by one of my favorite musicians
in which I wrote about how his song, ‘Mission of My Soul,’ had influenced me. That
song helped get me through the long, arduous days and nights of work. When I’d get
paged in the hospital at 3:00 a.m., I’d recall the mission of my soul—to bring empathy
and compassion, the very reason I chose medicine. . . . Well, I won the contest. The
prize was having the musician write a song about me. I listened to it, and the more
I listened, the fog around me started to lift. I could hear my own life reflected
back to me. I heard what moved me, what inspired me. I could see the light at the
end of my tunnel. I decided to do this for my patients. . . . I’ve co-written more
than 100 songs for my patients. In my office, I ask each patient: ‘What inspires you?
What is your legacy? What makes your heart sing?’ I let the answers marinate in my
head for a week or two, and then I write my patient’s song. I share it with my patient
and his or her family and friends in a celebration of life. . . . The whole idea is
to nudge my patients back to who they are. These songs are my patients’ stories, the
ones that push them towards love, urge them to let go of their fear. . . . This has
become the mission of my oncology practice: one patient at a time, transforming the
way doctors and patients can create a healing environment. I give them a little piece
of art that lives on forever.”
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