charlie weis thank you for coming. -- charlie: think you for coming. back in a moment.y with us. ♪ ♪ paul was a rising neurosurgeon at stanford when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2013, less than two years later he died. months he final 22 wrote tirelessly about both the struggle and joy he experienced leading to his death. he asked questions such as what does a meaningful existence comprise? how might that calculation involved when death is near? his thoughts on this and more are in "when breath becomes air." his widow is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at stanford. i am pleased to have her at the table. welcome. >> thank you. charlie: "when breath becomes air," i love that title. >> is a paraphrasing of a lizabethan yen fell on -- poem. he drew it from that. ira member he read a lot of poetry during the time he was ill. and he wasg in bed reading this poetry anthology and said, i think i have the title. i still have that. charlie: he found out he was a writer because when he wrote about impending illness, he knew he could do it. the response said, thi