Inspired by DU photographer HAB911and untold others -- The story behind "Ringing the Bell".

[George McGovern]

Ringing the bell marks a milestone in cancer treatment.

A rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, Irve Le Moyne, was undergoing radiation therapy for head and neck cancer and told his doctor, Kian Ang, M.D., Ph.D., that he planned to follow a Navy tradition of ringing a bell to signify “when the job was done.” He brought a brass bell to his last treatment, rang it several times and left it as a donation. It was mounted on a wall plaque in the Main Building’s Radiation Treatment Center with the inscription:

Ringing Out

Ring this bell
Three times well
Its toll to clearly say,
My treatment’s done
This course is run
And I am on my way!

— Irve Le Moyne
mdanderson.org
Ringing Out image found on the internet.

[Diamond_Dog]

1. Wow, thanks, George!

I for one never knew the origin of this act of celebration. Thanks so much!

And congratulations and best wishes to all the other bell ringers here on DU and their loved ones!

[murielm99]

3. I wi never forget ringing the bell.

[George McGovern]

5. With recognition and respect, murielm99, thank you.

[George McGovern]

4. You are welcome Diamond_Dog! I believe you earned the privilege.

[LoisB]

2. Thank you. I did not know the history.

[George McGovern]

6. Nor did I LoisB. Pretty extraordinary I think. The history and ongoing celebration.

[HAB911]

7. WOW

Last edited Wed Oct 1, 2025, 07:48 AM - Edit history (1)

I never knew this, thank you for sharing. I did not get a T-shirt but I did get this nifty Certificate of Completion!

A funny thing happened one day on the way to a treatment, an hours drive chauffeured by my wife, so there was time to reflect a little. Being drafted, and only in the Army for three years before going back to my civilian job with GTE, I never really felt like part of the larger veteran's corp. But that day I completely flipped and came to embrace my veteran-ness. I'm definitely no gung-ho soldier type, just the opposite, but I consulted the veteran's board here at DU for consensus on what groups were worthy of joining. I joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars which requires one to have served is particular theaters of active hostilities, the DMZ being one in support of the UN. I even bought a couple of ARMY T-shirts, for sure for the first time in my life, lol.
Well, that was TMI but I wrote it, so. Thanks George!

[George McGovern]

8. You are welcome. Thank You for that information. Your service, your sacrifice, are

validated. Your Certificate of Declaration is, well, well-earned I'm sure.

This may be TMI, but what the heck — my wife is my chauffeur due to the disease named after Dr. James Parkinson. And that is okay.

[HAB911]

9. Let's just keep on keeping on

one day at a time

[George McGovern]

10. You bet. Thanks. So, below, parenthetically speaking, I've added to Robert Hunter's lyrics.

"Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me"
('Specially now I can clearly see)
"What a long, strange trip it's been"
(And now at home, from smile to smile
this life is good, well worth all the while.)
To "get back truckin' on"

?list=RD48eW3VL-95g

[HAB911]

11. Excellent!

[George McGovern]

12. Ditto! Quintessential!