He felt like the true story hadn't been told because it had been told in a one-sided way. And that's what we're attempting to do, is tell the full story from a dual perspective.

There is a lot of psychological pressure that goes into having your medical care filmed and televised, and the simple truth is not every patient can cope with that -- or wants it. From our standpoint, we have to find someone with a medical need, and the right mindset, and whose personal story will help inspire others to also find help.

There is a strong (talent) pool, but a very small pool.

Sometimes the doctors that we were hoping to profile, or a hospital that understood our goal, would recommend a patient who would be a good candidate for a specific surgery. And sometimes we would find the patient and then help them find the doctor. Every case was different.

History is a sly boots, and for a generation of blacks that cannot identify with the frustrations of Jim Crow, and for whites who cannot understand the hard deal that faces working-class blacks, it is difficult to reconcile Hughes's reputation as a poet-hero with his topical verse and uncomplicated prose.

We were trying not to underestimate them but we might have been looking ahead. Fort Myers can go as far as they want to go.