Posted on 08/09/2005 8:42:24 AM PDT by Millee
Peter Jennings was one of 170,000 Americans diagnosed with lung cancer each year. It is the most common form of cancer, responsible for 28 percent of all cancer deaths.
Jennings died Sunday, at the age of 67.
Treatments are few once lung cancer is diagnosed, but there is one very obvious, but often very difficult, way to reduce your risk of getting lung cancer -- quit smoking, reported WCVB-TV in Boston.
News of Jennings' death has been a jolt for some smokers.
"You hear about it all the time, it just never sinks in, but for some reason (Monday) it just sunk in. I've got to do something about that soon," said smoker Kraig Ravioli.
"Now that he's gone, it makes it seem real and I can't get it out of my head today," added smoker Janet Caputo.
Jennings' voice was already weak when he made his last broadcast, a sign that his cancer had advanced.
"Lung cancer metastasizes, or spreads, very quickly so that by the time it's found, it's already spread throughout the body," said Dr. Nancy Rigotti, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Jennings gave up smoking 20 years ago, but had a brief relapse following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
"But then he quit again, and I think the message, perhaps his legacy, is that it is possible to quit smoking, and you should keep trying, and it's never too late," Rigotti said.
Helen Hodges said she was a closet smoker for years, only lighting up around other smokers, she recalls.
"I thought it was a dirty habit and I was embarrassed that I smoked," she said.
She finally kicked the habit several years ago, but not soon enough. Last fall she was diagnosed with lung cancer and she didn't see it coming, reported WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.
"One day I just bent down at work and I had an excruciating pain underneath my rib cage," Hodges said. "I went to the emergency room and they told me that I had pneumonia and a tumor in that lung."
Dr. Shakun Malik, who directs the lung cancer program at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., said lung cancer is a disease that often doesn't show warning signs until it's too late.
The long-term survival rate for lung cancer patients is low and the expected five-year survival rate is only 15 percent, medical experts said.
"We have a lot of new drugs and new vaccines coming into trial every day," Malik said.
Leslie Saporetti quit last year after 30 years of smoking cigarettes.
"I was smoking a pack and a half to two packs a day," she said.
Saporetti started smoking when she was 13 -- long before cigarettes had warning labels. Her mother and sister both died of cancer, but even that wasn't enough to get her to stop.
"One day I was looking at my daughter, and I realized she was as old as I was when I started smoking, and I just couldn't imagine her holding a cigarette and smoking herself," she said.
Saporetti got help at a smoking cessation study at Massachusetts General Hospital -- a combination of medication and counseling -- and lowered her risk of developing lung cancer.
"A lot of smokers think, 'It's too late. I've smoked too long, too heavily. I'm too old. It doesn't matter,'" Rigotti said. "But that's not the case. On average, when a smoker quits, they gain 10 years of life. That's a lot."
"I will never smoke again," Saporetti said.
She hasn't smoked in almost 10 months. She said that quitting was the hardest thing she's ever done, and she has some advice for smokers of any age.
"I think they should just know that it is really hard to stop, but it can be done, and that there are a lot of programs to help them and to just keep trying," she said.
Several new stop-smoking drugs are under development, but there are ways now available to quit. Call the American Cancer Society and speak to a health professional directly about the options at (800) ACS-2345.
Years ago, I saw an interview with the famous boxer Joe Lewis. (I think it was him). During this interview he puffed on a cigarette like an amateur. Then, during the interview, the host said to the audience,
"For those of you who may interested, Mr. Joe Lewis is smoking CHESTERFIELD cigarettes."
Gee, I wonder who sponsored the show?
TV was more fun when Red Skelton did his GUZZLER'S GIN act.
Keeping very busy for a few days is the best way to get through the first few days of quitting. Could there possibly be a better time to quit smoking than on your honeymoon, for a variety of reasons?
We crossed Montana and spent the night in Yellowstone at the Roosevelt lodge. The next day we made it to Salt Lake City. We stayed there one night and then, with the help of the conceirge, decided for Las Vegas over Los Angeles.
We spent 4 days in Las Vegas. We actual had sufficent gambling winnings that we left Las Vegas $50 ahead. We saw Ann Margret's show and Glen Capmbells show as well. Who says everything stays in Las Vegas? We then spent three days driving home to Minot. We spent 10 days on the road and I had more than my fill of oral stimulation.
Nicotine??? Forgot all about it!
Thw World Health Organization, in the longest non-interest group study ever produced, debunked the notion (allegation, lie, etc.) that second-hand smoke causes cancer.
And that would make sense in rhyme.
"Old Gold: Not a cough in a carload." :-)
I'm old enough (I was just a child ;) to remember the first public service announcement of that type done by the actor William Talman (DA Hamilton Berger on the old Perry Mason series) in 1968. He died of lung cancer at age 53.
It was pretty poignant. It began with,
"Before I die I want to do what I can to leave a world free of cancer for my six children . ."
Sadly we are still fighting it all these years later.
My grilled cheese sandwich today had an image of Peter Jennings in it.
It was reported on FOX this morning that Dana Reeve (Christopher Reeve's widow) has been diagnosed with lung cancer and she's not a smoker.
21 years ago is when I wish I'd quit! That's almost as long ago as Jennings claimed to have quit. I can't believe that he picked it up again on 9/11 after all those years...
we are on the same page. Yup.
I suspect that he never really quit, and that for 20 years he smoked in the closet, only to go public when he had 9/11 to blame for starting again.
1. USWM smokers have a lifetime relative risk of dying from lung cancer of only 8 (not the 20 or more that is based on an annual death rate and therefore virtually useless).
2. No study has ever shown that casual cigar smoker (<5 cigars/wk, not inhaled) has an increased incidence of lung cancer.
3. Lung cancer is not in even in the top 5 causes of death, it is only #9.** All cancers combined account for only 13% of all annual deaths and lung cancer only 2%.**
4. Occasional cigarette use (<1 pk/wk) has never been shown to be a risk factor in lung cancer.
5. Certain types of pollution are more dangerous than second hand smoke. Second hand smoke has never been shown to be a causative factor in lung cancer.
6. A WHO study did not show that passive (second hand) smoke statistically increased the risk of getting lung cancer.
7. No study has shown that second hand smoke exposure during childhood increases their risk of getting lung cancer.
8. In one study they couldn't even cause lung cancer in mice after exposing them to cigarette smoke for a long time.
9. If everyone in the world stopped smoking 50 years ago, the premature death rate would still be well over 80% of what it is today.1 (But I thought that smoking was the major cause of preventable death...hmmm.)
I am at a point where I do not know exactly what to believe. I quit smoking 9 years ago and I do know I can breath deeper now. I do believe smoking causes infesema, and may be a factor in lung cancer, but probably not the cause of it.
Awesome, RC! Thank you yet again. My dad will love these.
How about "Jennings' death moves some to quit Liberalism"
Still in love, kitty cat?!
I totally agree with you.
My grandfather quit the day I was born, he was 58.
He made it to 70.
His brother, who never smoked, made it to 90.
Not my dad. He denies that smoking can cause cancer ... even after watching his father die from emphasima (I'm sure I spelled that wrong), his next door neighbor die from lung cancer and now watching his sister suffer through lung cancer. He won't quit. Said he would when prices hit a dollar a pack, but ...
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