The Big Sick : Winner of Dr. Cary Presant's 2017 Home Award!

    LOS ANGELES, CA, January 30, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dr. Cary Presant, author of Surviving American Medicine announces The Big Sick as the winner of his 5th Annual HOME Award. The HOME Award (Health Oriented Motion picture Excellence) honors film entertainment that accurately depicts health issues.

Dr. Presant, a City of Hope staff oncologist and hematologist, created the HOME Award to recognize health themed movies, which have the potential to go beyond entertainment and transform our existence.

"Movies can serve as a source of family discussions, social dialogue, and even political debate," said Dr. Presant. "Health concerns are among the 10 most important issues of our time, and are the most critical issues for families facing health and/or medical insurance problems. Portrayals of these issues in movies can serve as catalysts for conversations that can change our attitudes and affect our decisions."

The Big Sick was declared the winner over the 4 other HOME nominees: The Hero, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Blind and Family Man. According to Dr. Presant, "The film calls our attention to the critical role family and friends play in helping support the patient and each other in facing a life-threatening illness, and the importance of reporting even the most minor symptoms to your attending physicians, so that they can better diagnose your problems. Not to do so can be potentially life-threatening."

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, The Big Sick, according to Dr. Presant, authentically depicts how medical illness can overcome family and cultural turmoil. "In times of crisis, people tend to focus on what is most important. Love and support for a patient should become more important than interpersonal quibbles and conflicts," he said.

The Big Sick now joins the previous winners of Dr. Cary Presant's HOME Award:

- 2013 Dallas Buyers Club with Mathew McConaughey dealing with the issues of life-threatening illness, access to research drugs, and finding a good doctor.
- 2014 Still Alice with Julianne Moore and Alec Baldwin, illustrating the problems of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
- 2015 Concussion with Will Smith, raising awareness of concussion and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
- 2016 Manchester by the Sea with Casey Affleck, a film dealing with early-onset heart disease, guilt, grief and depression.

For more on Dr. Presant's HOME award winners: http://huff.to/1QoTHwH

ABOUT DR. CARY PRESANT

Dr. Cary Presant is a practicing hematologist and medical oncologist in Southern California. He is currently a staff physician at City of Hope and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Presant's book Surviving American Medicine: How to Get the Right Doctor, Right Hospital, and Right Treatment with Today's Health Care (foreword by Fran Drescher) enables patients to get the right doctors, right hospitals and right treatments. It received the 2013 International Book Award for best book in health. As a grant-awarded scientific researcher, Dr. Presant has written over 400 scientific articles on health care, cancer treatment, personalized medicine, and quality of life in cancer patients. Dr Presant's website is www.survivingamericanmedicine.com.

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