HISTORY OF A LIFE OF GOOD LUCK

Directors:

Writers:

Greg Jeschke

Producers:

Greg Jeschke

Run Time:

0:48:11

Awarded for the following Category(s):

Awarded Category(s)

Frederic Mohs is to skin cancer what Jonas Salk is to infection. And while many people have heard his last name, Dr. Mohs has been largely ignored in history, until now. History of A Life of Good Luck is the story of the Wisconsin man who invented the cure for skin cancer. With access to both his personal and professional writings, this film uses his own words to reveal how his upbringing and personality formed the physician who would make medical history. 2026 is the 90th anniversary of the first Mohs Surgery and 100-years since Fred Mohs wrote a daily journal at the age of fifteen and sixteen. That journal, a short autobiography and notes he wrote about his own health struggles late in life are among the treasures opened in this film. In addition, members of his family and former colleagues share their stories and memories of Dr. Mohs, adding a profound personal dimension to his world-renowned work. History of A Life of Good Luck documents the life and legacies of the doctor who lost half of his family to disease as a boy and went on to devote his life to saving people from one of the most common diseases of our time.

Submitter Statement

In July, 2024, I was diagnosed with skin cancer on my nose and had it removed with Mohs Surgery. As she was preparing, my surgeon told me the doctor for whom the surgery is named was a Wisconsin native who did his work at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. I was surprised and excited to learn no one had produced a documentary on Frederic E. Mohs and I set out to do just that. I have had the opportunity to create, write and direct a total of 16 documentaries in my career, but this is my first biographical film dedicated to a single person who is no longer living. As I immersed myself in his papers and interviewed family and colleagues, I found myself getting to know this gifted, hardworking man starting in his childhood and ending with his death. His story is a milestone in medical history.

Greg Jeschke is an award-winning journalist with more than 40-years of experience. Working most of those years as a news anchor and reporter on television, he began producing the documentary series, Our West in 1997. In 2010 he created the series Our Wisconsin and produced eight documentaries on subjects ranging from the state’s drinking culture to racial inequities to climate change. In 2018, he started JDog Productions, LLC and began creating documentaries full time. INterDEPENDENCE, Justified Journey and Stage Presents are the titles of his first three films. Now, with the release of History of A Life of Good Luck, Greg is back with the engaging story of the doctor who invented the cure for skin cancer. Greg and his wife live in Madison.

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