Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies (Sneak Peek Inside New Series)

The story of cancer is an old one. Starting, perhaps, since the beginning of life itself, where even the first recorded evidence of the disease can be found on the remnants of ancient Egyptian scrolls. Some revived inscriptions sighting no cure.

Yet times have drastically changed with the help of medical science. "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies," shows that; a three-part PBS series presented by Ken Burns that will air March 30-April 1. The series is also filmed by Barak Goodman and based on the book that's written by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee.

We enter the beginning of the documentary in gut-wrenching panic at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md. Fourteen-month-old Olivia Blair has just been diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The disease has spread to both her brain and spinal column.

Where 90 percent of childhood leukemias today are curable, complications from treatments can cause lasting chronic conditions, or in some cases, even new cancers that may end patients' lives--a harsh reality that is reoccurring throughout the documentary as scientists delve deeper into more of the diseases' unknown. The family later prays about whether their daughter should receive an experimental new treatment that could prolong her life.

Yet Olivia's story is just one of many that speak to an epic struggle scientists are still working to unravel and cure.

Estimates show that 1 in 2 men will have cancer and 1 in 3 women will. By 2030, there's estimated to be 22 million cases of cancer worldwide. Everyone close to someone will have at least known a friend or family memeber who will have suffered or died from the disease (if it hasn't been themselves.)

But everyday marks new triumphs, failures, experiments and undeterred endeavors in the battle against the prevention, detection and treatment of this medical crisis. And with each new day brings new hope for the future and a possible cure. 

"There are so many types of cancer," said Burns. "At some point almost all of us may get some form. But we can see a day when most cancers will at worst be manageable conditions not death sentences."

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