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 agree with that statement -- I think smoking is just plain dumb. I had a teacher in 4th grade that took a dollar bill, lit it, and told our class that this was a cigarette burning. Made a huge impact on me that smoking equaled burning money -- never have smoked and hate being around people who do. Was very happy when they outlawed smoking on airplanes -- always ended up seated next to a smoker.
This is too bad about Peter Jennings -- maybe at least one young person will wake up and decide to not start smoking or quit.
LOL, and I cannot believe you belittled my favorite beer when I was growing up. Being from Georgia and all that, PBR was our favorite.
Oh boy. What a relief.
Well, like Madame Dufarge would call a certain few in here: Mr and Mrs. Pecksniff.
Welcome aboard. hehe!
Very good point. I still smoke cigarettes, and I'll be honest, I can't quit them. I'd be in prison, if I did, and I'm not just kidding. Nicotine is a powerful drug. Having said that, I chew Nicorette, use something called "Renegades" (snuff in little pouches, like Skoal Bandits), and am contemplating cigars and a pipe. I'm hoping that by mixing my poisons, I can delay what Peter Jennings has.
For you non-smokers and former smokers, everybody's not made the same. Some can quit easily, some can't quit at all. It's the same way with alcohol and drugs, it's why there are so many street bums.
For you smokers who can't quit, vary the method of intake if you can (cigarettes are the worst way).
For you smokers who can quit, do it!
So because someone drinks sewage, we shouldn't say anything when we see other people drinking nuclear waste?
If you enjoy cigarettes that much, then, by all means, go right ahead and smoke them. But don't tell us that cigarettes don't cause lung cancer, because they do. Period.
nice try but BS second hand smoke causing cancer is a myth,both my parents smoked, all my relatives smokes, and I have been around them for 50yrs, I have no problems, I also asked my dr about it and hes said it was BS.
Thank God!
:)
If you derive pleasure from smoking, light up, to the glory of God. If you like a Martini before bed, that's fine - who am I to judge in matters indifferent?
I never go after her until she comes after me and FReepers who smoke a legal product. But I won't sit here and let her spew her rants without standing up and saying something.
We have many lurkers in here, and the general non-smoking public has been duped enough over this issue.
I pray for Peter and his family. It can't be easy for any of them. But to use his illness as an agenda to bash and trash the rest of us is going over the top Lexinom. It's uncalled for.
Who knows why some get cancer and others do not. We live our lives and we pray for the best.
Personally, all I DO is smoke. I don't drink and I sure don't do drugs.
A) I don't smoke cigarettes, nor do I condemn those who do (see #144). B) I don't deny they pose a risk factor for lung cancer. If you smoke your whole life, you have a 15% chance of getting this disease, and a 12% of succumbing to it.
Mark Sandman, of the band Morphine, died of a smoking-related
heart attack at age 42. Right on stage, too. Mark was drug free, but smoked like a fiend. (He also was a musical genius, in my opinion.)
Do you have a link to this? I looked at their website, and they are mounting an all out attack on smoking. But, I am suspicious of anything the UN is up to and suspect there may be another agenda.
That's terrible. I wouldn't wish cancer on anyone. Well, OBL. And Kim jung-Il. And the head mul;lahs what's in charge in Iran.
But that's it. Certainly not Peter Jennings. Prayers for him and his family.
If I don't like smoking I can avoid its smell pretty easily. I lost my mother to cancer, I believe due to heavy smoking. It was her choice. She enjoyed smoking. I hated it, but it was her choice. I agree that all smokers don't get lung cancer, and some who never smoked do get lung cancer. Everyone who runs a stop light doesn't crash his car, and everyone whose car is crashed didn't run a red light, but running red lights is not advisable. It is a risk/benefit analysis to me. Each person has to choose. For me it is a no brainer, but for others it is clearly not. The feelings expressed here I think are mostly directed to concern for the lives and health of others, and not just to avoiding the stench of cigarettes. At least that is my position.
From Mesothelioma Information and Resource Group:
A great deal of attention has been paid to the relationship between smoking and lung cancer. Indeed, many people automatically assume that relationship. It is therefore important to understand that while smoking is certainly a potential cause of lung cancer, it is not the sole cause of lung cancer in humans. Statistics have shown that cigarette smoking alone increases the risk of lung cancer by a factor of 10 or so; heavy asbestos exposure alone increases the risk of lung cancer by a factor of 5 or so; and the combination of the two independent carcinogens increases the risk factor by about 50 times.
Thus, you do not merely add the risks posed by asbestos to the risks posed by cigarette smoking. The combination of asbestos and smoking multiplies the risk by an unquantifiable, but significantly greater, factor. This relationship is what is referred to as the "synergistic effect" of smoking and asbestos exposure. In short, one plus one does not equal two-it equals five or more.
I will go back through this thread and prove it to you.
At least "I" can back UP my words!
You just get lovelier with every post my friend.
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