The Main Things

"I'd give the patient another few weeks," said Dr. Napoleao Laureano impersonally, "a month or so at the very most." The young (36) Brazilian surgeon spoke with plenty of authority. He had spent more than two years in an intensive study of the disease in question. Moreover, he knew the patient well. It was Dr. Laureano himself.

Last week, in the simple certainty that his own case of lymphosarcoma (a cancerous disease of the lymphatic tissues) is incurable, he left Manhattan's Memorial Hospital, to fly home to Brazil with his pretty wife Marcina. "A man ought to die at home," he told reporters on his way to La Guardia Field. "We have a fine new house at Joao Pessoa. We've been making payments on it for three years."

There were other things that called the doctor back home: his four-year-old daughter, a townful of patients and friends -many of whom had chipped in to send him to New York for treatment and consultation-and the work he had begun. Wnen his own case showed itself Dr Laureano was in the process of setting up a clinic for the diagnosis and detection of cancer. All of these things were on his mind at the airport. Said he: "You see how very important work is, especially work you want to finish. You cherish friendships more than ever. You recognize hat affection, good will and love are the mam things. And family, the ones who are so close."

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