March 1984: a traveling bookseller met me working in Patagonia; he persuaded me to buy a book of Dr Saunders about hospice care. A few weeks later, I saw a man with terminal cancer and severe pain. I had learnt about curing in my training and found I had even treated this patient in the past, in Buenos Aires. Now I felt powerless to help since the therapy had failed. I turned to the new book and found there was much I could do to help him, by relieving his pain and spending time with him. I was inspired to develop palliative care and founded Pallium Latinoamerica. Dame Cicely's legacy lives on in Argentina!