The story really begins in 1969 when Rick Simpson’s 22-year-old cousin was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors did an operation, and then afterwards they give him chemo. He dropped from 200 pounds down to 120 pounds. Three years later, in 1972, he came home on vacation. They were talking one day and he collapsed right in front of Simpson. He suspected it was probably the cancer back, but he was hoping it wasn’t. As soon as he went in to seeing the doctors, they just said, “You’ve got three to six months to live.”