When filmmaker Linda Garmon's husband died of cancer, she found herself on a quest to find out why. She returned to the same Boston-area hospitals where her husband was treated, and for six months, she followed the unfolding stories of other patients, their families, and doctors. “In the first weeks of the project, I met a 38-year-old pancreatic cancer patient who said, ‘Cancer doesn’t fight fair,’” Garmon says,

“and I knew right away that this patient had articulated the central theme of the project.” The result—part science, part personal catharsis, part character-driven storytelling—is The Truth About Cancer, a 90-minute documentary that premieres nationally on PBS, Wednesday, April 16th, at 9 pm ET (check local listings).

In 1971, the United States declared a war on cancer, but the disease is now the second leading cause of death in this country. The Truth About Cancer— written, produced, and directed by Garmon—takes an intimate look at the cancer field, gauging how far we have come in this decades-old war, and asking, “Why does anyone still die of cancer?”

Weaving footage of her husband’s experience with the stories of three other patients, Garmon reveals startling truths about survival rates

for metastasized cancers and the limited success of drugs and clinical trials. “So where are we with cancer? I think it has been, you know, cancer 9, us 1,” says Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s George Demetri in the program.

“This film makes it clear that it’s very much a part of American culture to believe that if you fight hard enough, you can beat cancer. But when it comes to having metastatic cancer, your survival depends on the biology of your cancer cells and whether they are susceptible to state-of-the-art treatment,” says Garmon, a four-time Emmy award-winning filmmaker who narrates the film in the first person.  “In sharing my husband’s story and the stories of other patients, I hope to shed light on this important truth.”

The Truth About Cancer is a Carousel Films LLC Production for WGBH Boston.