“Thank you, Dean,” I began, my voice ringing clear through the speakers. “We’re here to celebrate the healing arts.”

“We’re taught that medicine is about fighting disease — about identifying the parasites that drain the life from a healthy body, and excising them.”

I paused and looked at the VIP section. Thomas beamed and nodded.

“Many of you know I’m a two-time survivor of aggressive leukemia,” I continued. “What you don’t know is the true story of how I survived. We’re told that family is our greatest support system. That blood is thicker than water.”

I gripped the edges of the podium, my knuckles white.

“But sometimes,” I said, my voice dropping into a chilling register, “blood is toxic. Sometimes the parasite isn’t the cancer. Sometimes the parasite is the people sitting in the front row.”