Cancer does not discriminate. Below are famous people who survived cancer, died of it or are still battling it. Fame and wealth do not protect one from cancer, nor can they cure cancer. Cancer does not discriminate.
BREAST CANCER
- Christina Applegate - (1971- ) American actress best known as Kelly Bundy on Married With Children, Applegate was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and underwent a double mastectomy.
- Kylie Minogue (1968- ) An Australian pop singer/starlet, Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and was successfully treated by surgery and chemotherapy.
- Sheryl Crow (1962- ) American singer-songwriter Crow was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, underwent a lumpectomy and radiation, and remains cancer-free.
- Olivia Newton-John (1948- ) An English-born, Australian singer/actress, Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1982.
- Kim Novak (1933- ) Long-time American film actress Novak was diagnosed with breast cancer in October, 2010.
- Briget Bardot (1934- ) This famous actress and animal-rights activist was diagnosed with breast cancer in the early 1980's. It was successfully treated.
- Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) Best remembered for co-starring with Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, Swedish-born Bergman died on her 67th birthday, four months after completing the television mini-series, A Woman Named Golda. She had breast cancer.
- Kara Kennedy Allen (1960- ) This daughter of Sen. Edward Kennedy was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer at 42 in 2002. She later found a surgeon to remove part of her lung, and the surgery seems to have been successful.
- Nikki Giovanni (1943- ) An author, Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech and black civil rights activist, Giovanni, a smoker whose mother and sister had died of lung cancer, was diagnosed with the disease in 1995. She quit smoking and had a lung removed.
- Vรกclav Havel (1936- ) The chain-smoking President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1996, the same year his wife died of the disease. Part of his lung was removed, cancer returned in 1998 and he is plagued with bronchial problems.
- Ken Kercheval (1935- ) American actor diagnosed with lung cancer.
- Tom Wilson (1931- ) American comic-strip artist and creator of Ziggy; diagnosed with lung cancer.
- Richard Bloch (1925-2004) The co-founder of H & R Block was given three months to live in 1978 when he was diagnosed with lung cancer but, after two years of aggressive therapy, it was in remission. In the late 1980s, Bloch fought and beat colon cancer. He died at 78, of heart failure.
- Kiyoshi Kuromiya (1943-2000) Born in a Japanese internment camp, Kuromiya was a civil and social justice activist. He was a lung-cancer survivor from the 1970s but died of AIDS-related complications.
- Peter Jennings (1938-2005) Born in Toronto, this well known and longstanding news anchor for ABC's World News Tonight died at his New York City home of complications from lung cancer.
- Marie Killilea (1913-1991) Killilea, an American author, activist and lobbyist for cerebral palsy patients, was given three months to live in 1969, diagnosed with a recurrence of lung cancer. Instead, she had a lung removed and underwent unusually aggressive chemotherapy which eradicated the cancer. She died at 78 of non-cancer respiratory ailments.
- Yul Brynner (1920-1985) This famous Hollywood actor, a smoker, died of lung cancer.
- John Wayne (1907-1979) We remember "the Duke" as a big, hard-drinkin' chain-smokin' tough guy in a ten-gallon hat, riding hell-bent for leather and ducking arrows shot by bloodthirsty Indians, all in black-and-white on the big screen. In 1964 he was diagnosed with lung cancer and had his left lung removed, along with four ribs that were in the way of the radical surgery. He quit his reported six-pack-a-day cigarette habit but, in a couple of years, took up smoking cigars and chewing tobacco. He made his last movie in 1976, died in 1979 of stomach cancer and, in 1999, was named one of the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.
- Walt Disney (1901-1966) The father of Mickey Mouse, Tinkerbelle and other childhood favourites that became American culture icons, Disney died of lung cancer less than a year after diagnosis.
- Patrick Swayze (1952-2009) Best known as the star of Dirty Dancing and People Magazine's 1991 "Sexiest Man of the Year," this American actor died of pancreatic cancer 20 months after diagnosis in 2008. He had undergone surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.
- Steve Jobs (1955- ) Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple Computers, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004. Later that year he underwent a "Whipple procedure," major surgery to remove part of the stomach, head of the pancreas, duodenum, gallbladder and common bile ducts. In 2009, he underwent a liver transplant.
- Michael Douglas (1944- ) This well known American actor and producer was diagnosed with Stage IV throat cancer in August, 2010. He underwent chemotherapy and doctors report his prognosis is good.
- Levon Helm (1940- ) In 1998, musician Levon Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer, underwent surgery and 28 radiation treatments. It destroyed his characteristic raw voice, but only temporarity. He recovered to continue recording and performing and, in 2009, his Electric Dirt album won a Grammy.
LYMPHOMA
- Lynda Petty - Stock car racer Richard Petty's wife is battling CNS (central nervous system) lymphoma.
ANAL CANCER
- Farah Fawcett (1947-2009) Diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, this Hollywood actress died after several treatments that were only briefly successful.
THYROID CANCER
- Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) In 1971, Asimov underwent surgery for thyroid cancer. He was, and remains, well-known as a writer of science and science fiction. Best known for his Foundation series of novels, Asimov was President of the American Humanist Association and Vice-President of Mensa. He died at 72 of complications from AIDS, contracted in a heart surgery blood transfusion.
- Bob Marley (1945-1981) Marley popularized the Rastafarian culture and reggae music from 1970 until his death. At 36 years of age, he succumbed to melanoma that had spread to his brain and lungs. He died in a Miami hospital, on his way to his birthplace of Jamaica. In 1999, Time Magazine named Exodus (Bob Marley and the Wailers, 1977), the greatest album of the 20th century.
- Fran Drescher - This American comedienne best known for her starring role in "The Nanny" was misdiagnosed for two years by eight different doctors before uterine cancer was discovered 2000. Treatment, a radical hysterectomy, was successful.
- Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) This notorious and talented American actor, producer and photographer died of complications from prostate cancer.
No comments:
Post a Comment