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."
Good for you on quitting. My mom and husband both gave it up cold turkey one day 8 years ago.
Until the lawyers got involved it was considered a miracle mineral.
I remarked earlier that Mr. Jennings was a life long smoker and one member wrote he had stopped smoking in 1989.
If he is 65 and started when he was 13 (1953) and smoked until 1989 - that would be 36 years of nicotine in his lungs.
But your point is taken - I was wrong to use that phrase.
Another poster said he didn't like his style of journalism - I agree - I have always thought Jennings pompous and superior - but I am still in sympathy with him.
No smoking doesn't cause cancer, but it flirts with the possibility of getting lung disease of all kinds.
No I am not a cigarette nazi - I used to smoke myself and enjoyed it.
Everyone is entitled to their own habits and enjoyments and these days even driving is flirting with the devil!
Peace!
I rely on anecdotal evidence as the basis for my concern for anybody who smokes. I was a minority of usually one,who did not smoke, only because I simply didn't want to. Then, in recent years people became informed of the health negatives related to smoking and our ash trays are seldom needed for visitors. Husband stopped his pipe 20 years ago. Mother didn't smoke but all of my brothers did as well as most inlaws all around. Cancer has taken more than one of the heavy smokers, but emphysema has taken more of them. Emphysema is a lingering disease that seems to start around 50yrs and for the next 20 to 30 years there is the on and off frantic trips to the hospital with death expected any minute. After several days there, it is back home to the oxygen tank and limited activity. I have never suggested to anybody that they stop smoking as it is obvious that they are choosing to do something that they almost always know is unhealthy even if not death threatening. However, I do miss those of my family and friends who for the most part began smoking before the hazards were known and they died for lack of that knowledge. And I have to confess, I think smoking is a nasty habit and I hate the smoke and cleaning up after smokers. I never nagged my husband but I was relieved when he quit on his own. He got good and scared when one more loved one went before their time.
No whining here. I support your choice. I really do. The smell of cigarette smoke is a stench to me. It seems that it isn't that pleasant to most smokers either, from what I see. For example, even when a smoker is smoking alone in his car, a window is almost always down, even in the rain or cold weather. At the cost of cigarettes these days, I'd think smokers would want to keep that aroma, if they liked it, in the car, to be savored.
However, you are right in your comments. It was not very considerate to call the smell a "stench." I guess I do hold a grudge against tobacco because I believe it caused my mother to die a very young, ugly death--despite the fact that she enjoyed it and it was her choice.
My dad used to smoke and was in the AF Fire Dept where he claimed they used to have asbestos in their fire suits. He was having some breathing problems in the 1970's, up and quit smoking, and hasn't touched a cigarette since--he still chews his tabaccy though. Other than a case of pneumonia a couple of years back and some other non-lung related problems, I think he's in fairly good shape. I do think his mind might be slipping a little or he just does it to annoy the heck out of my mom. He was also in Vietnam and I think he was exposed to various agents over there too. Hopefully he's got strong genes and whatever bad stuff he was exposed to won't affect him. He's 75 now--I wouldn't mind if he went another 25 years or so!
Not true...I had a friend who NEVER SMOKED in his life upon routine physical found lung cancer early stage. Within 10 months he was dead. Living in Houston, he had MD Anderson...all their conventional methods of treatment didn't help one little bit.
Exactly....he was predisposed yrs ago.
good one! ...testicular cancer... I am going NUTS.... I needed that laugh.
Don't worry about the asbestos in the firesuits unless the suits had rips in them and the asbestos was flying around. The only way that asbestos hurts you is if it finds a way into your lungs or peritoneal cavity.
Our 1889 house is sided with asbestos shingles that were put up in the late 1940's. As long as they are intact, they won't hurt you. If you take one off, pound it with a hammer, release the fiber and breath them in, then you are in trouble.
You wish! Haven't checked out my About Me page I guess. No double wide here fellow.
And there is nothing wrong with double wides. My in-laws lived in a gorgeous double wide in Pt Richey, Florida. It made most homes look like shacks.
Well, like I said: smoking isn't for everyone. We all realize that. But as long as it's a legal commodity and we enjoy it, we stand up for our rights to use it.
We just can't take the bashing and trashing that a lot of FReepers in here give us. I mean, live and let live. Why try to dictate to another person how THEY think we should live our lives. I never did believe in that.
And yes, stale cigarette smoke, like old beer, stinks. That's why we can buy Fabreze and the Sonic Ionizer's for purifying the air.
I put my cigarette butts in an empty coffee can because I don't want the smell in my trash can. But that's just me.
It's like personal hygiene: if we don't bath for three days, we are gonna stink. LOL!
It's the nervous habit you've got to break...that's the key. Watch yourself when you feel like lighting up...watch that habit. I don't know how many you smoke in an hour but that's another key to quitting. If you smoke every 30 minutes...then time yourself...wait 45 minutes....when that becomes easy...then wait an hour. Keep increasing the time between cigs. But go slow...take a week of 45 minutes...then a week of an hour....Do this for 1 month or 2 or 3 whatever it takes...then you can go cold turkey. Breaking the habit...not the nicotine....is the KEY. ;o) God Bless and Good Luck...you can do it.
Don't go NUTS! Just protect them while you're running. Don't let them flop around. LOL!
I never could figure out how you men could put up with all that down there. hehe!
Jennings was too ill to go to the Tsunami Disaster.
We think that he has known that he was in serious trouble for some time.
Your dad was a wise man.
Thanks! Good for your mom and hubby too. It's the best thing I ever did.
Best news of all. I had a chest x-ray last week. The radiologist was surprised to hear I had even smoked. ;-)
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