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American Morning

Health Crisis

Aired July 21, 2003 - 08:44   ET

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

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


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Medical news now. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is off today, but we're going to talk about a potentially silent killer threatening men, especially African-American men, with Danny Glover, the star of stage and screen, perhaps best-known for his role in the "Lethal Weapon" movies. You remember those. Entertainment not his only calling. In fact, the veteran actor is a national spokesman for anemia. Danny Glover is here to talk about it this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
Great to see you in person again.

DANNY GLOVER, ACTOR: Good morning. How are you doing?

HEMMER: I'm doing just fine. Thanks for getting up early for us, too.

This topic is very close to you because of your own personal experience. Tell us about your problem and what you went through.

GLOVER: Well, my father suffered from chronic kidney disease and kidney failure. He was on dialysis for six years, and really succumbed two years ago. He was also anemic. And which is associated with chronic diseases, whether it's heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer or -- and kidney disease, is anemia. And he was treated for the anemia, and it certainly affected and changed his life. It enhanced his life to some degree. But it never -- it never got the chronic disease, the outlying disease, but it certainly helped him.

HEMMER: In a word or two, do you think if he would have paid closer attention to it at a younger age things might have been different?

GLOVER: Well, I think that there's a chance of that, you know. I mean, the question about we're dealing with the health of men, and how we as men don't go to the doctor as much as women do. I mean women go to the doctor -- men go to the doctor 25 percent less than women do, first of all. And yet, increasingly, the discrepancy between the life expectancy of men has declined in relationship to women.

HEMMER: You mentioned a few statistics there. Men here are three times less likely than women to go to a doctor. African- American and Latino men are less likely than white men to visit a doctor. At age 75, men die from cancer at twice the rate of women.

GLOVER: Absolutely. HEMMER: The cancer rate of black males is twice the rate of white males. There's your proof. The question is, how do you get men to pay attention?

GLOVER: Well, that's the major question. You know, you get them to be concerned. How do you get them to be concerned about their lives by going to the doctor?

It's not just going to the doctor. It's lifestyle. There's a whole bunch of issues around here in terms of this lifestyle. Lifestyle, how do you exercise? How do you eat? What do you eat? They're important things, as well, you know.

And there's a certain kind of bravado that goes along with being a male and not going to the doctor, and associated with a certain level of fear, I mean, the fear of not finding out. But it's better to know and to catch those things at an early stage. Women begin at an early stage becoming acclimated to going to the doctor.

HEMMER: We won't even stop and ask for directions, though.

GLOVER: Yes.

HEMMER: How are you going to stop and make a doctor's appointment, you say it's absolutely critical. I'm wondering if this is a generational thing? Do you have to start now and allow it years to take root?

GLOVER: Well, perhaps you do. But you begin where -- you begin in the early education, with respect to getting kids accustomed to going to the doctor. So you begin at that stage, and maybe it carries over to that point. But, the fact is that there's another side to this also. We have a tendency to believe now that there are drugs, there are medications that we can take now that will deal with whatever you have to deal with. And there's a sense that we don't feel complete, in a sense, without that sense of being just being able to stand on top of the world, you know.

But I think the key, of course, is to begin to deal with your health in a much more broader sense of it, and a much more, as I would say, holistic sense. You begin to deal with your health in terms of what you eat, how you exercise, then you're going to want to go to the doctor. You're going to want to know what's happening. And it's important to catch it at an early stage. Men should be having colonoscopys, because of the danger of colon cancer. They should be having PSAs at a certain age because of the danger of prostate cancer. So all these things are very important for men to deal with.

HEMMER: Listen, good luck on the campaign. That was just kicking off, so it will be interesting to see what kind of reaction you get. See if we're as stubborn as we can be at times.

Great to see you, Danny. Danny Glover, I know you just finished your work on Broadway. So we'll look for you again soon, OK.

GLOVER: Thank you very much. HEMMER: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




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Aired July 21, 2003 - 08:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Medical news now. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is off today, but we're going to talk about a potentially silent killer threatening men, especially African-American men, with Danny Glover, the star of stage and screen, perhaps best-known for his role in the "Lethal Weapon" movies. You remember those. Entertainment not his only calling. In fact, the veteran actor is a national spokesman for anemia. Danny Glover is here to talk about it this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
Great to see you in person again.

DANNY GLOVER, ACTOR: Good morning. How are you doing?

HEMMER: I'm doing just fine. Thanks for getting up early for us, too.

This topic is very close to you because of your own personal experience. Tell us about your problem and what you went through.

GLOVER: Well, my father suffered from chronic kidney disease and kidney failure. He was on dialysis for six years, and really succumbed two years ago. He was also anemic. And which is associated with chronic diseases, whether it's heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer or -- and kidney disease, is anemia. And he was treated for the anemia, and it certainly affected and changed his life. It enhanced his life to some degree. But it never -- it never got the chronic disease, the outlying disease, but it certainly helped him.

HEMMER: In a word or two, do you think if he would have paid closer attention to it at a younger age things might have been different?

GLOVER: Well, I think that there's a chance of that, you know. I mean, the question about we're dealing with the health of men, and how we as men don't go to the doctor as much as women do. I mean women go to the doctor -- men go to the doctor 25 percent less than women do, first of all. And yet, increasingly, the discrepancy between the life expectancy of men has declined in relationship to women.

HEMMER: You mentioned a few statistics there. Men here are three times less likely than women to go to a doctor. African- American and Latino men are less likely than white men to visit a doctor. At age 75, men die from cancer at twice the rate of women.

GLOVER: Absolutely. HEMMER: The cancer rate of black males is twice the rate of white males. There's your proof. The question is, how do you get men to pay attention?

GLOVER: Well, that's the major question. You know, you get them to be concerned. How do you get them to be concerned about their lives by going to the doctor?

It's not just going to the doctor. It's lifestyle. There's a whole bunch of issues around here in terms of this lifestyle. Lifestyle, how do you exercise? How do you eat? What do you eat? They're important things, as well, you know.

And there's a certain kind of bravado that goes along with being a male and not going to the doctor, and associated with a certain level of fear, I mean, the fear of not finding out. But it's better to know and to catch those things at an early stage. Women begin at an early stage becoming acclimated to going to the doctor.

HEMMER: We won't even stop and ask for directions, though.

GLOVER: Yes.

HEMMER: How are you going to stop and make a doctor's appointment, you say it's absolutely critical. I'm wondering if this is a generational thing? Do you have to start now and allow it years to take root?

GLOVER: Well, perhaps you do. But you begin where -- you begin in the early education, with respect to getting kids accustomed to going to the doctor. So you begin at that stage, and maybe it carries over to that point. But, the fact is that there's another side to this also. We have a tendency to believe now that there are drugs, there are medications that we can take now that will deal with whatever you have to deal with. And there's a sense that we don't feel complete, in a sense, without that sense of being just being able to stand on top of the world, you know.

But I think the key, of course, is to begin to deal with your health in a much more broader sense of it, and a much more, as I would say, holistic sense. You begin to deal with your health in terms of what you eat, how you exercise, then you're going to want to go to the doctor. You're going to want to know what's happening. And it's important to catch it at an early stage. Men should be having colonoscopys, because of the danger of colon cancer. They should be having PSAs at a certain age because of the danger of prostate cancer. So all these things are very important for men to deal with.

HEMMER: Listen, good luck on the campaign. That was just kicking off, so it will be interesting to see what kind of reaction you get. See if we're as stubborn as we can be at times.

Great to see you, Danny. Danny Glover, I know you just finished your work on Broadway. So we'll look for you again soon, OK.

GLOVER: Thank you very much. HEMMER: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




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