Posted on 04/07/2005 1:52:05 PM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs
Peter Jennings' lung cancer, which he disclosed Tuesday on ABC World News Tonight, may be in an advanced stage, a local expert on the disease says.
Most patients don't have their conditions diagnosed until the cancer is "so advanced that it can't be cured by surgery, and the patient has a poor chance of long-term survival," says Rita Axelrod of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Kimmel Center.
Details of Jennings' condition haven't been disclosed, but his hoarse voice and the fact that he isn't having surgery immediately "suggests he could be in at least stage III" of lung cancer, says Axelrod, director of pulmonary medical oncology.
In stage III, life expectancy for lung-cancer patients is 12 to 18 months, with less than 9 percent living for five years after their diagnosis, according to Axelrod.
Jennings, 66, World News anchor since 1983, shocked his ABC colleagues - and the broadcast world - by revealing in a staff e-mail Tuesday morning that the cancer had been diagnosed the previous day.
He said that he would begin outpatient chemotherapy next week, and that he would anchor when his health permits. Good Morning America's Charlie Gibson and Elizabeth Vargas of 20/20, among others, will fill in.
Jennings had planned to anchor World News Tuesday, but changed his mind late in the day due to a weak voice. Looking thin, he told viewers his news in a taped segment at the end of the broadcast.
Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in the United States, with roughly four out of five people who have the disease dying within five years, Axelrod says.
The five leading causes: "Smoking, smoking, smoking, smoking and smoking."
Jennings, once described by a colleague as a "relentless smoker," says he quit 20 years ago but started again during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Nightline's Ted Koppel "was always goading Peter to quit," says Bob Zelnick, chairman of Boston University's journalism department and an ABC correspondent from '77 to '98.
"Sometimes Peter was like a kid, smoking in the bathroom or stealing a cigarette in the hallway," Zelnick says. "At one point, he went to a hypnotist to try to get control of it."
The traditional course of chemo for lung cancer is in cycles of three to four weeks, Axelrod says.
Some people "actually do very well. They're able to work and enjoy life... . They only need to take a few days off at a time."
Meanwhile, the abcnews.com message board has been flooded with good wishes for Jennings, ABC News' Jeffrey Schneider says.
Jennings joined Wednesday in World News' daily 9 a.m. editorial conference call and spoke throughout the day with exec producer Jon Banner, but he didn't anchor last night.
In the wings. Though ABC has no succession plan in place for Jennings, news division chief David Westin has the luxury of a deep bench.
Gibson, 62, and Vargas, 42, already designated subs, would be on any short list. Vargas is considered a fast-tracker at the network.
Other possibilities: chief White House correspondent Terry Moran and World News Saturday anchor Bob Woodruff.
If ABC decides to go with network evening news' first solo woman, GMA's Diane Sawyer, 59, is the logical choice, says CBS Evening News interim anchor Bob Schieffer.
"I have no idea whether she would want to leave GMA, but she's always been the one I would have thought was the strongest woman anchor right now in television, and she works for ABC."
Since Tom Brokaw stepped down Dec. 1, Jennings has brought World News close to the top-rated NBC Nightly News in the Nielsen wars. (CBS Evening News remains a distant third.)
With CBS's Dan Rather having stepped down March 9, ABC is perfectly poised to make a move. Its promo for Jennings says it all: "Trust is earned."
I heard a clip on the radio and he sounded very bad.
We can discuss his politics but it would be unseemly, IMHO.
I wouldn't wish this on anyone. My prayers go out to him.
The five leading causes: "Smoking, smoking, smoking, smoking and smoking."
This cannot be stressed enough.
I heard it too. At first I thought it was Larry Flynt.
The prognosis is rarely ever good with this type of cancer. He may be buying only a few more weeks with chemo.
Especially starting at the age of 13 before the lungs are completely developed. The fact he started again after 9/11 probably didn't make a difference one way or the other, that ship sailed a long time ago.
What about asbestos?
This cannot be stressed enough.
ping
To all FReepers who smoke:
PLEASE STOP NOW!!!
You might want to post this on the Smokers Club Threads.
Can I just have one more though?
After all, I quit every night when I go to bed.
My favorite aunt died from this type of cancer...I wish they'd been honest about the prognosis at the time. The chemo she thought was worse than the disease and with the short amount of time she had, the time could've been better spent.
This is really rough -- I'm very sorry to hear this kind of news about anyone.
:o(
I think Jennings knows enough about his condition and probably has been told by the medics the honest truth.
Perhaps what the press is letting out is for public consumption only and not what the Jennings family may know.
He looks terrible and the disease has already robbed him of his energy from the ravages being seen.
I think in Jennings' case we can directly link cigarettes to his disease as he was a lifelong smoker.
My prayers are going out to you, Peter. I hope you can beat this thing.
66 is way too young. And Jennings looked like the type that had genes to live for a very long time.
Very sad.
In his last conversation with his brother, Johnny Carson kept saying, "Those damn cigarettes, those damn cigarettes."
They will just say that smoking is healthy, never killed anyone, and anyone who doesn't think so is a nazi.
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