Posted on 08/06/2005 7:30:06 PM PDT by MindBender26
Edited on 08/07/2005 8:45:47 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
From friends at ABC; Peter Jennings is near death. This is unconfirmed, but from usually reliable sources.
The ABC anchor, who was born in Canada but became a US citizen, announced a few months ago that he was suffering from lung cancer. He has not made a televised appearance since.
You got that right! I've had a lot of experience in quitting smoking! I finally quited for good on January 22, 1979. I don't miss it!
Prayers joined here.
When did he retire?
I believe that would be small cell carcinoma. My grandfather died from it. He seemed healthy as a bear, then one month later he was gone.
Never officially retired. Charlie Gibson and Cynthia Vargas have been "filling-in" for PJ. His voice was very bad months ago. Hasn't been seen in office for about 6 weeks.
ABC AFFILIATES PUT ON ALERT TO PREPARE FOR JENNINGS DEATH
SAD
Agreeing with you in prayer, Faith. Lord, prepare him to meet You. Give him the time he needs, and bring the people who can help him, that he will be prepared to meet you face to face and be welcomed into your Kingdom. We ask this in Jesus Name, Amen.
Small-cell, it's what took down my father. It's a terrible way to go, his mind was gone for his last few weeks, he lost more than half his normal weight before he died.
Those who smoke don't realize the suffering they will bring to their families as well as to themselves.
Jennings never gave up his Canadian citizenship. He holds dual citizenship now.
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/business/media/06jennings.html?position=&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1112793663-dUD8FXsSx+tVgkQjaGcs2w
Mr. Jennings had been a heavy smoker until the mid- to late-1980's, colleagues said. He quit at that time, though the colleagues said it was an enormous struggle for him and periodically he was known to sneak a cigarette or two. At one point, Mr. Jennings and his executive producer then, Paul Friedman, visited a hypnotist in Boston seeking to break their addictions to cigarettes.
That treatment worked for a time, but as Mr. Jennings acknowledged in his commentary last night, he returned to regular smoking after the terrorist attacks in 2001. He later quit again, a colleague said.
FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27732-2005Apr5.html?sub=AR
ABC executives refused to provide medical details of the type or state of Jennings's cancer. Nine in 10 lung cancer cases are related to smoking, and a diminishing risk continues even after someone quits.
Norman Edelman, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, said a decision by patients not to seek surgery for lung cancer "suggests they believe it's already spread to a point where surgery does not offer a cure." This is either because the cancer is at too advanced a stage or because it is a form called small-cell cancer -- which occurs in about a quarter of such cases -- and has already spread to other parts of the body, he said. Still, "chemotherapy can absolutely prolong life," said Edelman, who teaches at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Michael Thun, vice president of epidemiology for the American Cancer Society, said that "the most effective treatment for localized lung cancer is surgical removal. If it's already spread, then surgery is not an option." Although the five-year survival rate for men with operable lung cancer is 45 percent, he said, it is under 14 percent for more advanced cancer that cannot be removed.
FROM THE NEW YORK POST
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/44008.htm
Peter Jennings will immediately receive chemotherapy for his battle with lung cancer which could indicate the possibility that the ABC anchor has an aggressive type of cancer or one that has already spread.
There are two types of lung cancer: small cell and non-small cell and they are treated differently, said Dr. Avi Barbasch, who sits on the board of directors of the American Cancer Society's Eastern Division. "If it's localized and small-cell type, the primary treatment is chemotherapy and it potentially can cure it," Barbasch said.
"If it's small cell and has spread, it has a high response rate [to chemo] but a high chance of coming back." If Jennings does have a non-small-cell carcinoma "and it is inoperable, then the treatment of choice could be chemotherapy," said Barbasch. The non-small type is best treated with surgery if it has not spread.
The 66-year-old former smoker will face grueling chemotherapy treatments that could last for months. After that, his prognosis is unclear. "We don't know what kind of cell type it is and if it has spread, within or beyond the chest," Barbasch said. "Those things play a factor in his symptoms, how he feels and his prognosis."
Dr. David Carbone, an oncologist specializing in lung cancer and professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said that "there's a huge range in possible outcomes for lung cancer." If you have a tiny nodule that gets surgically removed, then you have a 90 percent cure rate," he said. "If you have widely metastatic disease, then you have a zero."
Yes...small cell lung cancer. It is the worst and spreads very fast. If diagnosed in Stage Four, the patient has only 3-6 months left.
I know because my sister had this and died less than 2 months after diagnosis.
There was a time when it was (for all practical purposes) just the big three, that ABC was my favorite of those. I believed Ted Koppel, George Will, and sometimes even Jennings were giving alternate viewpoints and information.
Father, we pray for the man and ignore his politics. We pray that he gets things right with the Lord before he departs if he is not already right with you and in Christ. We pray for his family. We pray in Jesus' name; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lung cancer is usually undetected until late stages it is that way!
Prayers out to him and his family.
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