Film producer Julia Fisher Farbman, a Villanova native, recalls her first encounter with pioneering oncologist Audrey Evans.

Farbman was 10 or 11 and had appendicitis. Dr. Evans was a family friend and the first female chief of pediatric oncology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, writes J.F. Pirro for Main Line Today.

She greeted Farbman heading into surgery.

“I saw Audrey and I could feel the calm,” Farbman said.

Evans, 97, is a co-founder of Ronald McDonald House Charities. She was one of the first women in the field of oncology and she revolutionized cancer care for children in the 1970s.

Farbman, now 32, is helping create a biographical feature film, “Audrey’s Children,” on Dr. Evans. Filming starts in August. 

Dr. Evans discovered a groundbreaking way to save children from neuroblastoma, the most common pediatric cancer tumor. The fatality rate was 90%. Now the survival rate is 75% to 80%.

“When I told Audrey I wanted to write a movie about her life, her first reaction was, ‘Why on earth would anyone want to watch my life—what a bore!’” Farbman said.

Now she’s all in, wondering who will chaperone her at the Oscars.

Read more at Main Line Today about Julia Fisher Farbman and Dr. Audrey Evans.