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Dealing with Cancer

Aired March 07, 2006 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Lung cancer doesn't play favorites and it doesn't play fair. If it hasn't affected or your immediate family, it's affected the family next door or down the street. Coping with it might be the hardest thing you ever do, but it's not impossible.
Dr. Otis Brawley is a cancer specialist at Emory University here in Atlanta. He joins me today from just outside New Orleans, where he's working in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

And I guess before I answer some of these e-mails, Otis, when we tried to track you down, we found out you were there. Tell us about your mission there.

DR. OTIS BRAWLEY, EMORY UNIV. ONCOLOGIST: Hello. Yes, I'm in St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans. It's a county or parish that had about 70,000 people and about 70 physicians before the hurricane. There are three left. So I and a number of volunteers from the Department of Health and Human Service and public health service doctors are all down here taking care of the people down here.

PHILLIPS: And so you're doing this on a volunteer basis because -- well, I already know you have a huge heart. But you wanted to go there and help out with those that are struggling, is it with cancer specifically? ?

BRAWLEY: Well, I was called to active duty by the surgeon general. I wasn't a volunteer, although I did gladly accept the offer to come down here. I'm doing primary care. I'm sewing up sutures, taking care of heads and -- head colds and pneumonias and doing things that oncologists don't normally do.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, do me a favor. If you can shoot some video and take some pictures, let's talk when you get back. Is that a deal?

BRAWLEY: I will. I will.

PHILLIPS: OK, great. Thanks, Otis.

Let's get straight to the e-mails with regard to questions about cancer, Dr. Brawley. Doctor, this one comes from Carla in Princeton, New Jersey. And she says, "Do we know what percentage of non-smoking women may get lung cancer as a result of secondary smoke?"

BRAWLEY: Well, I can answer the opposite question slightly. You can't answer her question, but I can tell you that about 10 percent of women who get lung cancer are non-smokers. I can't tell you how many or what percentage of non-smokers will ultimately get the disease.

I can tell you that non-smokers who get the disease increase their risk by living with someone who smokes, by working in a smoke- filled environment like a bar. Some of the studies tell us that second-hand smoke caused lung cancer based on flight attendants back when there was smoking on airplanes. They had a higher risk of lung cancer than people who work on the non-smoking airlines.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Now, you're always on the cutting edge of new treatments, drugs, some trials. You and I have talked about a number of those in the past. Anything right now -- because it's been a while since we talked -- that we should talk about, mention. Those struggling -- maybe not lung cancer, but another type of cancer, that they should be looking at right now that you've been impressed with?

BRAWLEY: Well, actually the drug that I've been most impressed with is the drug is what Sanjay Gupta talked about a little while ago, Tarceva. I know it shows tremendous progress. It's a growth factor inhibitor. Many of these targeted drugs, they're looking at -- as we learn more about the basic science of cancer, we learn why the cell mutates, why the cell starts growing, and why there's uncontrolled growth. And cancer is uncontrolled growth.

We're actually figuring out the molecular switches that we can actually turn to slow down the growth or in some instances stop the growth all together. I think Tarceva is an interesting drug. Iressa, which has actually gotten somewhat of a black eye, is still something that many people are interested in and still studying.

PHILLIPS: Yes, you mention Iressa. We actually had a four stage lung cancer survivor. That was the drug he took, Otis, and he's still with us. He's a big believer in it. And what we understand, what Dr. Sanjay Gupta was saying also, that those on it are still on it, but they're not allowing any new patients to take this drug. Do you by chance know why?

BRAWLEY: Yes, the studies done with Iressa were perhaps studies that were not designed as well as they could have been. Unfortunately, when we're talking about this kind of disease, the drug may only help 10 or 15 percent of people and not help 85 to 90 out of 100 who take it. But it still helps 10 or 15.

We actually need to be able to figure out exactly before you give the drug to a person that it is likely to help them. Why give all the side effects to 80 to 90 percent of people with no benefit? Let's get the people who are most likely to benefit, and if they get side effects, they're still likely to benefit.

And that's why -- people have slowed down the development of Iressa to try to figure out a marker or a lab test to say this is a lung cancer that's very likely to benefit from Iressa, this is a lung cancer that is not likely to benefit from Iressa. We know most lung cancers will not benefit from Iressa, but some will.

PHILLIPS: Let's get to another e-mail, this one coming to us from Melanie. She says, "What is the difference between a PET scan" -- I hope I'm saying that right, or do you say PET scan, you let me know -- "and biopsy in diagnosing the type of lung cancer that you have?"

BRAWLEY: A PET scan is a PET scan in our language. It stands for positron emission tomography. It's like a CAT scan, it gives you image and structure of the tumor, and it's a nuclear medicine study that actually allows you to figure out metabolism of the tissues that are involved. We frequently can find that someone has a tumor, do the PET scan and say, gee, this is malignant tumor or this is not a malignant tumor.

A biopsy is the old-fashioned way of sticking a needle into the tumor, looking at it under a microscope, and a pathologist tells us one, it's cancer and two, tells us what kind of cancer is it is. And that's an important point, because there are a number of different kinds of lung cancers, some which are at higher risk for women, some of which are at higher risk of non-smokers, some which are easier to treat.

PHILLIPS: Another question, coming from Alan. He says, "I'm a 67-year-old survivor of two instances of lung cancer. I was just wondering if my body may have something unique that helps me to survive or keeps the cancer localized instead of spreading. Is there something I can do that may help someone else to survive this terrible disease?"

BRAWLEY: Well, I appreciate his desire to help other people. But it actually may very well be -- we just talked about how there are different types of lung cancer. He may have one of the slower growing types of lung cancer or a predisposition toward one of the slower growing types of lung cancer. I think the best he can do is talk to folks about the fact that he had this disease, he's done well with the disease, and actually be a spokesperson for not starting to smoke and not smoking.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Otis Brawley, cancer specialist at Emory University, joining us from New Orleans, where he has been summoned to come help those there. We look forward to talking to you about that mission, as well. Otis, thanks for your time today.

BRAWLEY: Thank you. It was a pleasure being here.

PHILLIPS: Great to see you.

Well, if you're diagnosed with cancer, there are ways to deal with that stress that can improve your chances of survival. The Mayo Clinic suggests practicing relaxation techniques. Share your feelings rather than putting on a brave face which may make you feel a bit isolated and keep a journal. It can help you organize your thoughts. And remain involved with work or leisure activities as much as you can.

Straight ahead, stories of survival. An inspiration to all. Two young men, my co-workers, who have fought cancer and won are going to share their stories with us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: He was told he had lymphoma. He went through months of hard core chemotherapy and he's not even 30 years old. Robert Tharpe is a member of our CNN team. He turns 28 on Friday and you can bet he's making every birthday count.

Samuel Santamaria's cancer started as a small but annoying pain in his lower abdomen, then it got worse. He was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1998 and underwent two years of treatment. Today the CNN assignment editor is back in good health, his cancer in remission. Both Robert and Samuel join me now. Hi, guys.

Every day we come into work, we look over at you two, you sit pretty close to each other and it warms our hearts every day that we see you back in here because we remember those times. Robert, give us a little background on how you found out. You know what it was like when you got those words that you had cancer.

ROBERT THARPE, CANCER SURVIVOR: It started about a year ago, about March of last year. I had a cold that just never went away. I noticed a lump on the left side of my neck here, I thought this is very odd. I started going to the doctors and having it checked out. They just kind of blew it off, and gave me antibiotics and said it will go away. It never went away.

I really had to push them, we need to biopsy this because I felt something wasn't right. Got the results back, they called me back and they said you have lymphoma, you have cancer, this is one of the most aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

So at that time of course I didn't know what to say but I made a point right then and there I was not going to have doom and gloom attitude that so many people have. I said I'm going to fight this, I'm going to win, I'm going to live to tell about it I'm going to have a story to tell at the end of this to inspire other people and that's what I did.

PHILLIPS: You know what? I want to let our viewers know this. That is absolutely true. Because we were looking at your Web site and your blog. You were doing this from your hospital bed. I mean the pictures and the testimony. Did you ever at all feel I can't take this anymore?

THARPE: No, that never even crossed my mind. I have, unfortunately it's a rare cancer. There's only 250 to 300 cases a year. So I felt I had to document it as much as possible so that when other people have this type of cancer, it's Burkitt's Lymphoma is what it's called, when they are diagnosed they would have a resource to turn to so they would have information. Because that was one of the problems I had. I had no information. I had no idea what to expect.

For every cancer there's a specific regimen of your treatment. Now that I have my blog, it's also on burkitts.org, there's a link to it there. People all over the world read it. And it inspires people because they know it's not a death sentence. It's so easy for us to get caught up in the news of the day and think this is a death sentence. For millions of Americans it is not a death sentence and I want everybody to know that. Keep that in mind.

PHILLIPS: You definitely made that very clear to all of us. Samuel, your story just as powerful. Tell me about when you got the news and what did you do?

SAMUEL SANTAMARIA, CANCER SURVIVOR: I think Robert was a lot smarter than I was. It started with a pain I knew something was going on. But in this profession you just go and work and work.

I had to postpone going into the doctor. I said well, look, I have this pain in my abdomen, can you give me something. He was like I can give you something but sooner or later we are do some testing. So my big mistake, and perhaps people should never ever do that, ever, and that is wait until it's too late.

For some people, that is a crucial timing where you could get treatment, it's life and death meaning. And I let it go to the point where it was finally diagnosed, the doctor said well, is it so large now, it is almost 20 centimeters in diameter, you have less than 10 percent chance of surviving.

PHILLIPS: What was the percentage?

SANTAMARIA: Less than 10.

PHILLIPS: Less than 10 percent?

SANTAMARIA: Because it had destroyed a lot of tissue. Thank God it was tissue that was rebuilt over time. My body was able to react properly to the treatment, but in any case, it was so large and so aggressive, just like Robert said, that you know, people should be aware of that and get treatment as soon as they can.

PHILLIPS: Now, not only are you two both beautiful individuals, but being of you have a tremendous gift for writing. Yours comes with music and I just want to play a little bit of this song that you wrote when you were dealing with your cancer and then I want to talk to you about that.

THARPE: OK.

PHILLIPS: And of course here waiting for the big record deal now. But the lyrics of this song, not only a great dance tune as we all agree, but here and now we're going to make it through. You never once doubted your faith, did you?

THARPE: Never, no. I had been working on music for years now. Trying to make connections with the industry. Last year about this time something finally came through and I was working with an established producer in New York, the project was all coming together. He sent me the instrumental song. At that time I was going to write the lyrics for the song. That's a day after I got my diagnosis.

So there I was with an instrumental song going through. I was just diagnosed with cancer and I wrote this song, "Here With You." So that's what I'm working on now, shopping it, hopefully a record label will pick it up. If not, I'll just start my own label and put it out myself.

PHILLIPS: Samuel your talent comes in writing. This beautiful essay you sent me. I hope I don't start crying. But when we did an interview before. I've talked to both of you about your stories, I can't read the whole essay but you wrote about your feelings. This emotional hide and seek going on called craziness.

I just want to read a part of this and I want you to explain what you were feeling and why you wrote this.

"Craziness had counted and started to seek for feelings. The first one she found was boredom, only three steps afar from where she started seeking. Shortly after she heard faith arguing with God about theology and felt passion and desire shimmering in a volcano. In a moment of decision, craziness found triumph. Doubt was a lot easier to find. She was just sitting nearby trying to decide where to hide. In such a way she started finding everyone. She found talent in a fresh field and found anxiety in a dark cave. She found life behind the rainbow. Even oblivion had forgotten he was playing hide and seek. Only love was nowhere to be found." Of course it's two pages of beautiful writing. Tell me why you wrote this, what were you feeling?

SANTAMARIA: Well basically just like Robert, I don't think I had any doubt that I was going to beat this thing. Actually at one point I was pretty much resigned to the idea, that "Well, if I had died, you know, I'd have lived a pretty good life and doing the things I wanted."

But then all of a sudden, I'm still like, "Why? Why does the train have to stop here? No, it doesn't." And for one moment during that time when I was almost reconciled to the idea of dying, I was like, "No, there's still part of me, there's still something that I can give, that I can show people and I can just put it on paper and just be there and remember all the feelings and all the ideas and everything. Your friends, your family all the love that those people give you, that should never stop."

PHILLIPS: Samuel and Robert, professionally you give us so much in this newsroom, but personally I don't think there's one person that ever doubted that both of you have been an absolute inspiration to all of us and you continue to be. Thanks for talking with me. I know you both were a little hesitant but it ended up being wonderful. Do you still love me?

THARPE: Whatever we could to spread the word. It's something we can fight and we can win.

PHILLIPS: And I know we can log onto your Web site, kickcancer.net.

THARPE: You can see my blog and also have a link to my Web site, robbierussellmusic, that's my stage name, Robbie Russell.

PHILLIPS: And of course we can call CNN and get your beautiful prose. SANTAMARIA: Thank you, the only thing I just want to tell, for all those people who are listening, just don't give up. You know, keep doing, believe in yourself, listen to what the doctor says. Get your treatment and when in doubt, just remember who you are and even if you doubt even more, rely on your family and your friends, all that love that you have around you.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, you guys. We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well at the top of the hour, CNN will have more on the controversial deal to let an Arab firm run six major U.S. ports. CNN's Wolf Blitzer is in Dubai where "THE SITUATION ROOM" is taking place. He's had exclusive access, exclusive interviews -- Wolf, what's on tap?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Kyra. We've had an incredible three days. Coming up, we're live here in Dubai. My exclusive interview with the chairman of Dubai Ports World. We'll find out if he's willing to accept a compromise deal. I'm going ask him some of the tough questions.

Plus Congressman Duncan Hunter, he's been the fiercest critic of the ports deal. Will he try to stop it from going through? He's going to join us as well.

And Radon in your home, it's one of the leading causes of lung cancer for nonsmokers such as Dana Reeve. Find out if this hidden danger could be lurking in your home. All that, Kyra, coming up right here from Dubai at the top of the hour.

PHILLIPS: Looking forward to it, thanks Wolf. Well the closing bell is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's get straight to the New York Stock Exchange. Our Susan Lisovicz is standing by. I know she's going to be talking about the Enron trial and also the closing bell coming around, but just, Susan if you don't mind, we've been talking about cancer for the past three hours, doing special coverage. I know that you lost a sister to cancer and so you've been listening to our show quite intensely.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN ANCHOR: Kyra, my sister died at the age of 30. She was a newlywed when she was diagnosed with melanoma. She was courageous as Dana Reeve was, we miss her terribly, but like Dana Reeve, my sister Donna Lisovicz (ph) taught us a lot about how to live life and how precious it is. And that is something we've all learned something from and that's something that's very inspiring to me. So it's no longer a tragedy, she will live with us forever.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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