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CNN Live Today

Dana Reeve Announces She Has Lung Cancer; Shuttle Returns With Flawless Landing; Oil Prices on the Rise

Aired August 09, 2005 - 10:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Discovery.
Daryn Kagan is at the CNN Center. She's going to take you through the next few hours on CNN LIVE TODAY.

Hey, Daryn. Good morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, good morning to you. Thank you.

We have a lot to get to today. Let's start with by taking a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

The space shuttle Discovery is back on earth. It landed safely in California just a couple of hours ago. NASA scrubbed two earlier landing opportunities in Florida because of bad weather.

In Rome, British police have questioned a key suspect in last month's botched terror attacks on London's transit system. They interrogated Hamdi Issac earlier today and his attorney says Issac gave the same answers he gave earlier to Italian police. Issac maintain the bomb police say he carried was meant to scare people and not to kill anyone.

A day after Iran restarted work at one of its nuclear facilities, an emergency meeting is taking place in Vienna, Austria. The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency is discussing the matter. Iran says its intentions are peaceful, but its actions could lead to possible U.N. security sanctions. The United States accuses Iran of carrying out the covert weapons program.

In Washington, another interest rate hike is likely today. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise its short-term rate to 3.5 percent. That is a quarter point increase and it would be the tenth such height since last summer.

Good morning and welcome to CNN LIVE TODAY. I'm Daryn Kagan.

We begin with the breaking news about one very famous family and the questions of just how much should one family be expected to endure. We're just finding out this morning that Dana Reeve, the widow of actor Christopher Reeve, have announced that she has and is being treated for lung cancer. She released a statement just a little while ago on news and the possibility that a tabloid was going to come out with an article about her situation. So I'll just go ahead and read you Dana Reeve's statement that is posted on her Web site, where she says "my family and I have decided to release our own statement. I have recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and am currently undergoing treatment. I have an excellent team of physicians and we are optimistic about my prognosis. My family and I deeply appreciate the care and concern of our friends and supporters and trust that everyone understands our need and desire for privacy during this time. I hope before too long to be sharing news of my good health and recovery."

Of course, it was earlier this year that Christopher Reeve lost his long battle fighting paralysis. And to get more on this situation with Dana Reeve, we have on the phone with us our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes and, you know, we've learn a lot about lung cancer over the past few days and few months, no question, Daryn. It is a difficult diagnosis. We don't have a lot of details about Dana Reeve's type of lung cancer, exactly the symptoms that she was having that took her to the physician in the first place, or if she was a smoker.

We do talk a lot about the correlation between smoking and lung cancer. It's one of the most cogent, well-defined relationships in medicine that if you're a smoker, you have a higher chance of developing lung cancer. But there is a population of people who develop lung cancer that don't smoke and never smoked as well.

But, you know, I'm sort of getting this information, as you are as well, Daryn. A lot of details still missing, but it is a frightening diagnosis. Let me just share a couple of the stats with you, quickly.

This is for all people with lung cancer. Within the first year, six out of 10 people die from lung cancer. Within year two, eight out of 10 people die. And right now, as good as we've gotten at so many things in medicine, within five years, only 15 percent or so people are still alive after having been given a diagnosis of lung cancer.

So this is a terrible and frightening diagnosis, no question, Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, and, Sanjay, this comes just a day after we're mourning the loss of News Anchor Peter Jennings who just announced he had lung cancer in April and he seemed to go so quickly. So this is really going to catch the attention and the concern for a lot of people.

GUPTA: Yes. And, you know, and I think a lot of people, including, I think, doctors when they hear the numbers, again, are startled by them. You know, the average median survival, I should say, for someone, this is for all people again with lung cancer, is only 10 to 12 months. With Peter Jennings, as you mentioned, it was only four months after he announced it at least to the country and to the world. It's hard to say exactly at what point in his treatment, in his diagnosis, he actually told everybody else. And I don't know the same information for Dana Reeve either. So it's really hard to speculate but, you know, there have been some good improvements in lung cancer therapy overall but it's still an incredibly difficult diagnosis.

KAGAN: Well having met and interviewed Dana Reeve a couple of times, I would imagine, I'm not speaking for her, but I would imagine this is a family that likes to look in the face of odds. Look what Christopher Reeve did, surviving nine years when many people didn't even think he would survive the accident that put him in the wheelchair in the first place.

GUPTA: Yes. You know, and, Daryn, that's a really good point because we do talk a lot about the role in hope and optimism when it comes to dealing with things like cancer, or in Christopher's case, the paralysis and the need for the ventilator and all that. I think that there probably is a role. That's obviously much more ill- defined. A couple of there have been some scientific sort of developments in the treatment of lung cancer. You and I have talked about this a little bit. Tarciva and Avastin are two medications. They prolong survival on average by about two month.

And that is either a lot or a little, depending on how you look at it. Two months when your leading survival is only 10 or 12 months may seem like a lot. Two months to a lot of people who don't have to deal with this sort of issue doesn't seem like very much time at all. But, again, you know, it is a difficult diagnosis. The improvements are coming, but they are slow in coming.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, you know, we've been looking at this video as we're talking, Sanjay, of Dana Reeve by Christopher Reeve's side. And as much admiration as he received over the last nine or 10 years, she has as well for how she stuck by his side. How she was dedicated. People watched their love and their marriage. There is also the stress, though, of being a caregiver that comes and that could affect somebody physically.

GUPTA: Yes. You know, and, you know, these are the sort of more subjective things that doctors certainly pay attention to when it comes to assessing how somebody is going to do. How well someone is going to be able to combat a disease. Certainly she had a lot of stress on her, I'm sure, as caregiver, everyone does who's a caregiver, for nine years.

I don't know, and I think it would be quite difficult for anybody to say, what kind of role that either played or will playing now in terms of her overall recovery. On one hand, as you mentioned, I think correctly and wisely so, is that she has maybe developed more of a fighting spirit with this and, you know, being speculative and this is, obviously, all subjective, but I think that there probably is a role for some of that.

No question, though, at least leading into her statement, that she is going to fight this, not just with her willpower, but with the best science and medications and treatment available. That's what it sounds like to me from hearing that statement, Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes, the legacy of Christopher Reeve and how they fought his paralysis is that you don't take no for an answer. You keep fighting and you keep pushing envelope of science.

A couple things that you're saying are important that we need to stress right now, Sanjay. We don't know when she was diagnosed and we don't know the exact situation of her particular case.

GUPTA: That's right. And these are important things. You know, I should point out that with regards to Peter Jennings, and we talked so much about him yesterday, we never knew for sure exactly at what point he was diagnosed, or which particular type of lung cancer that he had as well. We did know that he was a smoker. He talk about that pretty openly.

There are a lot of unknowns though when it comes to Dana Reeve and we may never know some of those facts. She just may choose not too share some of that. But the things that you'd like to know, to give a better sense of how someone's going to do, is the whether or not she is amenable to an operation. Whether she, you know, would be a candidate for that. Whether she what type of cancer she has specifically. At what point in the diagnosis arm that we're talking about here. And whether or not she was a smoker. These would be some important, at least initial questions, being able to give you a better sense, at least, of how she might do.

KAGAN: Ironically, the news of Peter Jennings' death and Christopher Reeve's widow, Dana Reeve, coming saying that she has lung cancer comes in a week, Sanjay, that you've already put together a week-long series on cancer and the latest. And as we look for those reports as the week goes on, as you tackle that subject, already being educated in medicine, what would you say was the biggest thing you came away with as you went back to look at the battle against cancer is and where it stands today?

GUPTA: Yes, thanks for asking about that. You know, some 35 years since President Nixon declared war on cancer, as the president of the United States he wanted to make sure that cancer was not a disease that didn't kill people anymore. We, obviously, haven't gotten there. So if that's the parameter by which you measure success, we haven't been able to achieve that as a medical community.

On the other hand, that should in no way undermine or belittle some of the real accomplishments that have been made. People live normal life spans with cancer. People the perception still, Daryn, out there is that when you tell someone that they have cancer, they think that they're immediately going to die and certainly sometime sometimes that, unfortunately, does happen.

But there was a real sense of hope and optimism about the people who are fighting this disease. There are clinical trials going on around the country and around the world to try and better treatments for future generations. So ironically, Daryn, I think if you watches the special and you watch the pieces that come out this week, you will walk away from that with a sense of hope and you will also find the fighting spirit that people look for so often in these patients. You'll see that in a lot of the patients that we profiled.

KAGAN: Well, you know, Sanjay, from having met and interviewed Christopher Reeve and Dana Reeve a few times, I know they are huge CNN fans and they watch all the time. It's always on in their home. So hopefully Dana Reeve will have a chances to see the special and see the pieces and take away that sense of hope as she starts her own battle as well.

Sanjay, thank you.

GUPTA: Best of luck to Dana Reeve and thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes, absolutely. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our senior medical correspondent, weighing in on this very distressing and distressing story that we're hearing about Dana Reeve. Forty-four years old, the widow of Christopher Reeve, making her own announcement today that she now has her own physical and medical battle. She has been diagnosed and is being treated for lung cancer.

Christopher Reeve fought a nine-year battle against paralysis. She was by his side the entire time. He died last October. Dana Reeve making an announcement on her Web site today saying she's choosing to come public with her news because a tabloid was going to come out with an article about her health battle.

So she's making her own announcement and puts this statement up. And we'll read it for you once again where she says, " based on the imminent release of a tabloid article regarding my personal health, my family and I have decided to release our own statement. I have recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and am currently undergoing treatment. I have an excellent team of physicians and we are optimistic about my prognosis. My family and I deeply appreciate the care and concern of our friends and supporters and the trust that everyone understands our need and desire for privacy during this time. I hope before too long to be sharing news of my good health and recovery. Now, more than ever, I feel Chris with me as I face this challenge. As always, I look to him as the ultimate example of defying the odds with strength, courage and hope in the face of life's adversities."

That is the statement from Dana Reeve on her Web site. And, once again, we do know that a big watcher of CNN. And if she happens to be watching today, the entire CNN family wishing you well with your battle.

On to other news of the day.

The concerns that dogged the space shuttle Discovery from its first moment of takeoff vanished with a silky smooth landing that ended the 14-day mission. Discovery returned to Earth less than two in our hours ago and a full country removed from its intended landing site. It was supposed to be Florida, ended up in California. That's where we find our Ted Rowlands at Edwards Air Force Base with the latest.

Ted, must have been quite a sight in the darkness this morning in the desert?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, indeed, you know, the weather was perfect here, unlike in Florida, and the landing was picture-perfect as well. Eileen Collins brought Discovery down as planned on runway 22 here at Edwards Air Force Base just perfectly. It was a pre-dawn landing, so difficult to see with the naked eye. You could just see a blip. But the thermal imaging of the cameras from NASA and our own video that we shot, you could see how perfect this landing really was. It brought to an end two-and-a-half years of no space exploration since the Columbia disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah, today we honored the Columbia crew. We brought Discovery home safely. It's a great day. If you want to know how I feel, I feel fantastic. So thank you all very much and just it's good to be us today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: The astronauts are going through the lengthy de- briefing process. They're being check out medically. They will spend a few hours here at Edwards before they are reunited with their family members in Houston at the Johnson Space Center.

For more on this historic day, let's go out to Florida, the original landing site, and Miles O'Brien.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Ted Rowlands.

We're looking at live pictures on NASA TV as the crew makes its way off the crew transport vehicle. They've had a chance to rest, refresh, change into a fresh flight suit, being met by some members of the management team there at the Dryden research facility, which is NASA's facility right there at Edwards Air Force Base. Other side of the field. Everybody looking hail and hearty there as they go off and say hello and take an opportunity to walk around beneath the orbiter, kick the tires.

There you see, foreground, kind of mid left, Eileen Collins shielding her eyes. Got her sunglasses on. Saying hello to some people and looking at the vehicle that has taken her on this amazing five-and-a-half million mile, 219 orbit journey. Hard to imagine how quickly they came from 17,500 miles an hour to what they all wanted, which was wheel stop, safe and sound, which is what we saw pre-dawn there at Edwards Air Force Base.

Eileen Collins, once again, showing her medal as a pilot. Wherever she has gone, she has been among the first women. Among the first women in the United States Air Force among those flying, and among the first women in the astronaut coop to be in the front part of the shuttle. The left and right seat. The pilot and commander seat. Is the first pilot and the first commander. This is her second command. And, once again, showing she is up for the challenge.

Eileen Collins is a task-oriented person who takes great pride on being able to do her job, multitask and sort of burn the candle at both ends. Be a super mom as well. And she has proven once again that she does, in fact, have the right stuff.

Let's listen to just a moment to Kelly Humphries, NASA public affairs officials. He'll introduce some of these people.

KELLY HUMPHRIES, NASA PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICIAL: Collins walking with the Flight Surgeon Terry Taddeo.

O'BRIEN: It's interesting, as we watch this inspection, this historically has been a moment where crews have seen dings and dents that they hadn't anticipated or knew about. In this case, we know an awful lot about what the underbelly of Discovery should look like since we had so many inspections and so much imagery and so much capability to be able to see what this orbiter looked like in space.

What fascinates engineers as they go over it is what the difference will be between what they documented in space, in orbit, and what the condition of the orbiter is now. In other words, what does re-entry do to the vehicle? It's the first time they've really been able to get a handle on this.

This is the end of the 114th shuttle mission. The 112th safe landing. And the 50th at Edwards. In the early days of the program, this was the first place they came back to. It wasn't until about 1984 that they started flying to the Kennedy Space Center routinely and making that a part of their routine.

All kinds of estimate as to what it costs to get the shuttle back to Florida, where it lives, after all, and where the hangar is. On the order of $1 million to get the people out there.

There you see them. That was the pilot, Jim "Vegas" Kelly. There's Steve Robinson, left-hand part of your screen there. And in the foreground, I believe that's Charlie Camarda his back. He's got the cap on. Oh, Soichi Noguchi.

HUMPHRIES: Soichi Noguchi getting a close look at the underbelly of Discovery. Robinson, of course, on his third space walk of the mission, was in this position on the end of the space station's robotic arm. He pulled two tile gap fillers out. Help ensure that boundary layer was not tripped and caused additional heating.

O'BRIEN: You know, as we listening to Kelly Humphries there, this it's interesting, earlier in the day we had a prediction from Kathy Sullivan who was with us. She said, when Steve Robinson and Soichi Noguchi get out of the shuttle, the first thing they're going to do is go to the spot where they did the space walk. Well, how's that for a prediction coming true?

And they're looking at it right now just to see kind of their handiwork, so to speak, and also as we the plane carrying family members leaves here behind me, those family members headed to Houston and the astronauts you see here possibly headed to Houston as early as tonight. Maybe they'll stay over in California depending on how they feel. They look good. But having an opportunity to see if their effort to pull those gap fillers, sit between tiles, caused the shuttle to have any was it worse for the wear as a result. There they go back toward the main gear of the shuttle.

The shuttle is about the size of a DC-9. A lot of people don't realize its size. And its difficult to get a sense of it when it's in the hangar because it's so enshrouded by scaffolding. But there they are taking a look.

There are about 20,000 heat resistant tiles on any given shuttle. Many of them are unique. But each one is specific to a location. And each one is numbered. And each one a documented. And the history of each and every one of those tiles is well known. Some of them actually go back to the day that Discovery was built, in the 'early 80s, and some of them are frequently replaced because they're in places that don't take the wear so well. They're near doors and so forth.

But that heat shield is truly, if you look at all of the marvels of the space shuttle, the one thing that sets it apart from the vehicles which preceded it, the Apollo vehicles, is that thermal protection system, that network of tiles, fragile as they are, unique as they may be and expensive as they are to repair and also difficult as they are to contend with for the ground crew, are the single greatest innovation of the space shuttle.

Daryn.

KAGAN: But, Miles, with everything they've put into it and all the research they did since Columbia, they still didn't quite figure out why they stay on and why they don't. There's still a lot to know, isn't that right?

O'BRIEN: Well, it's interesting. You know, the thing about the real surprise on this mission was the things that hurt the tiles and the foam, for example. The fact that that foam fell off that fuel tank. That's a huge risk to those tiles. And so those are the things that really are going to set NASA back as they try to kind of go back to the drawing board here.

They spent two-and-a-half years trying to stop big pieces of foam from coming off the fuel tank. What happened two minutes after launch? A big piece of foam fell off the fuel tank. That's a slap in the face to NASA two-and-a-half years after Columbia. So they really have to solve that problem.

What this goes back to, Daryn, though, is you've got a fundamental problem here. Let me get my model here and just point this out. You have something that, no matter what you do, it's going to shed stuff. This is foam. It will always shed. You can minimize it, but it's always going to shed. Where's the orbiter? It's downstream of the stuff that sheds. Is the orbiter fragile? Yes. And can it be damaged by that? Yes.

So there's some fundamental issues here which go to the heart of how this shuttle was designed. Those things aren't going to change before the shuttle is retired in 2010. The thing they have to do is figure out a way to make it as safe as they can. I think what they've proven here is, even if one of these big pieces falls, at the very least, when it gets to orbit, we're going to see it.

And that's a significant difference. There was a big, gaping hole in the left wing of Columbia just sitting there and what has been seen, obviously, by any, just a quick space walk or certainly any of those imagery cameras that were equipped on Discovery, would have seen it and they could have done something about it. They could have told the crew to wait at the space station. They could have done a rescue mission. All kinds of options. But by not knowing they didn't have any options.

Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Miles, we'll have more with you later in the hour. It is a happy day in Florida and California as well with the safe landing of the shuttle Discovery. Much more ahead with Miles.

Also, much more on the story of Dana Reeve, the 44 year old widow of actor Christopher Reeve. She announcing today she is being treated for lung cancer. More on her battle just ahead.

Plus, pain at the pump. We all know gas prices are high. But the big question is, will they go even higher? We'll tell you what you can expect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Showing you live picture now from Edwards Air Force Base, the high desert of California. The shuttle astronauts from Discovery making a safe landing earlier this morning. They're getting a look now at the outside of the shuttle, in the daylight, from standing on earth. Landed at 8:12 a.m. Eastern at Edwards, ending a 14-day mission that included a stay at the International Space Station. Weather just was not good enough in Florida to land there this morning.

OK, let's talk about transportation that most of us can understand in our daily lives. The markets had the jitters lately over the steady climb of oil prices. Yesterday, a record high. More than $64 a barrel and, of course, that is sure to bring more pain at the pump. Check out some of these prices. San Francisco topping the list in a AAA survey, an average price of a gallon of unleaded regular now up to $2.71. Cheapest on the list, you might want to stop by Houston, Texas, they're paying $2.28 a gallon. Let's head to New York and CNN Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff.

Allan, I filled up on the way to work, paid $2.34.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not too bad, especially compared to where I'm standing right now because the price here, $2.81 a gallon on the west side of Manhattan. Maybe some New Yorkers will be tempted to drive to Houston for that price you just cited. Obviously, we've got San Francisco beat right here as well. Part of the reason is the simple fact that taxes on gasoline in New York City are extremely high.

But this is really a new high for the city and people are partly outraged but partly they're just putting up with it. You know, New Yorkers are used to complaining about many things, crime, pollution. Well, now they're just adding gasoline prices to that long list. We spoke with one van driver who simply can't believe how much it costs him to fill up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This van, right now in this place right over here, is $100.

CHERNOFF: To fill it up?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To fill it up. To fill it up right up. Fifty (INAUDIBLE), and just maybe even more than $100. Fifty reach me under under half.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Now prices at the pump are likely to go even higher and that's because in the market oil has been soaring and traders say they expect oil to continue climbing. Partly because of fears that supply could be disrupted. Refineries have been shutting down. Partly because of some accidents. There is fear, of course, of more hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. And fear of potential terrorism, even in Saudi Arabia. So for all of these reasons, prices are expected to keep on climbing.

Some people are making sport of it, though. One Internet site has begun taking bets on whether the price of gasoline in New York or Los Angeles will top $3 the gallon by the end of the year. The odds, 30-1.

Daryn, if where a betting man, I would have to take those odds.

KAGAN: I was going to say, standing where you are, I bet that would be a bet you'd want to take. Better than filling up. Cheaper.

CHERNOFF: Not to far away.

KAGAN: Thank you, Allan.

Let's go ahead and take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touchdown. And Discovery is home.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAGAN: Good news out of California. The shuttle and her crew of seven touched down just a couple hours ago, despite concerns that arose just after liftoff two weeks ago. The shuttle had no problems in this morning's re-entry. Bad weather in Florida forced Discovery to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Live picture there for you in the beautiful high desert of Southern California.

To Iraq now. Insurgents have again struck in the heart of Baghdad. A suicide car bomber targeted a U.S. military convoy killing one soldier and three civilians. Two U.S. soldiers and 50 civilians were wounded.

The widow of actor Christopher Reeve has announced just minutes ago that she has lung cancer. Dana Reeve spent nine years caring for her paralyzed husband before his death last year. She says his courage will help inspire her. Two days ago, ABC Anchor Peter Jennings died after a four-month battle with lung cancer. We'll have more on Dana Reeve's announcement after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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