Peter Jennings of ABC has been diagnosed with LC

[lilyjohn]

This truly does seem like the end of an era. I wish him the best of luck. Wouldn't it be something tho if he would find this site and read some of the stories here? No one could be in a better position to help to get the word out about some of the issues that concern all of us here.

Breaking that stigma and getting more research into other causes and more treatment options could well get attention if he would mention those things. Maybe when he is better able and past the initial shock he will do a program about lc. That would be something that has been needed for a long time. That is if he would cover all of the issues not just the smoking connection.

[cindi o'h]

Well, when I heard that Peter Jennings was diagnosed with lung cancer, I gave an outloud..."oh no".. it is like a family member was diagnosed with lc. Funny how those people who report the news become so familiar that they seem somehow personally connected.

The statistics on CBS were painted so bleakly as far as lung cancer survival is concerned. Either I have had my head in the dirt all this time or I misunderstood their interpretation of the survival or they misreported the survival. Again, in any event, they were so outrageous that I choose not to believe it. Bah-loney!

Wishing Mr. J. well in his journey and the rest of us brave hearts! Go Forth and Conquer!

Cindi o'h

[shineladysue]

Praying for a cure for Peter Jennings. I hope if he looks in on our site he will feel the support and prayers coming his way. It would be wonderful if he should decide to share with us and to also accept the support and prayers that are being said on his behalf.

Sue

[kimblanchard]

Stopped smoking 20 years ago and just cheated since 9/11, that doesn't seem like that close of a connection to me, but I am prejudiced. In some ways, it doesn't matter why, what matters is what now? We need a ton of more research and more cures. Margaret

[stephnewyork34]

more on this, it sucks, but maybe it will drum up some interest, and all that.

ABC Anchor Peter Jennings Has Lung Cancer

Apr 5, 10:36 AM EST

Associated Press

Peter Jennings, the chief ABC News anchorman for more than 20 years, has been diagnosed with lung cancer and will begin outpatient treatment next week, the network said Tuesday.

Jennings, 66, told ABC News staff members of his diagnosis Thursday morning and said he will continue to anchor the broadcast when he feels up to it as he begins chemotherapy.

He last anchored "World News Tonight" Friday and was too ill to work Saturday during the network's special report on Pope John Paul II's death.

"There will be good days and bad, which means some days I may be cranky and some days really cranky," he told ABC News employees in an e-mail.

Charles Gibson, who's in Rome for the pope's funeral, and Elizabeth Vargas will be Jennings' primary substitutes on the evening news.

Jennings is the last of the anchor troika that dominated broadcast network news divisions over the last two decades. NBC's Tom Brokaw stepped down last year and CBS's Dan Rather left the evening news last month.

A former foreign correspondent based in Rome and London, the urbane Jennings and "World News Tonight" dominated the ratings during the late 1980s and early 1990s, before being surpassed by Brokaw. His broadcast is now a close second to NBC's "Nightly News" with Brian Williams.

He has been feeling ill for the past several months. Following the tsunami in December, he did not travel to the stricken region, with ABC explaining at the time that he had an upper respiratory infection and was under doctor's orders not to travel. He did go to Iraq in January for the elections.

Jennings is a former smoker who gave up the habit several years ago, the network said.

He anchored ABC's evening newscast for two years in the 1960s, then joined a multi-anchor format in 1978. ABC abandoned the approach in 1983 after Frank Reynolds died of cancer and Jennings has been the sole anchor since then.