Greetings from Don Doll, SJ

Dear Mark,

Happy Easter, and thank you for sharing so directly and honestly in The Book of Mev. I couldn’t put it down, and I am not a reader of books like yourself.

After our Good Friday services, I went to my room for some quiet time to finish what I figured was going to be the story of Mev’s diminishment and suffering. It was. It came so soon after the interview with Sebastio Salgado (also one of my favorite photographers).

I had tears in my eyes for two hours, and I did sob when you shared how you broke down. It brought back so vividly our family’s trauma when my mother was diagnosed with brain cancer and chose not to have the operation. We did home hospice for three months until the final week when she was admitted into one of the first full care hospices in the early eighties in Milwaukee. I too shared our family’s story of how the Spirit worked with us in a photo essay.

After reading your vivid testimony of Mev and your wonderful relationship, I feel like I know Mev and yourself. We have so many friends in common, and of course, are living through so many of the issues in our society and church.

I don’t know whether you would want to get together or not. I would very much like to visit with you.

May the joy of Easter and the resurrection be yours. Thank you for all that you have shared.

Don

Jesuit Father Don Doll is a photographer who is affiliated with Creighton University.