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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Danny Glover
Aired July 21, 2002 - 09:13 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Actor Danny Glover is involved in a number of health and human rights related causes, but the one closest to his heart, anemia, condition of dangerously lowered red blood cells, affects him very closely. Glover's father suffered from anemia; now he is raising awareness and hope about this whole issue. He joins us this morning from Portland, Oregon. Mr. Glover, good to have you with us.
DANNY GLOVER, ACTOR: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: All right. Tell us, first of all, what are you in Portland, what's going on this morning, what you're hoping to accomplish?
GLOVER: Well, first of all, I'm involved in a kidney watch -- excuse me, a kidney march. And it's sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation's Portland branch. And it's to raise money and awareness about anemia. So that's why I'm in Portland this morning. In fact, the march is going to start in a couple of hours.
O'BRIEN: All right. And you will be out there, obviously helping with this cause very directly. Tell us a little bit about your father's story.
GLOVER: Well, my father had a chronic kidney disease and kidney failure, and he was on dialysis. But also, since he was anemic -- and anemia is a manifestation of a disease pattern -- since he was anemic, it affected him because he had loss of energy, he was cold all the time, he was depressed sometimes, and -- but once he was treated, then certainly he began to be revitalized.
O'BRIEN: Is this something that is perhaps overlooked by doctors, and for that matter, the patients? Coping with another situation, in this case it was kidney disease, and perhaps not focusing on what might be something related to it? In this case, anemia?
GLOVER: Well, I think certainly when we talk about anemia, as I mentioned, it's a manifestation. It's not a disease itself, but it's a manifestation of a disease pattern. When we talk about anemia and the type of anemia that we are talking about is anemia that's associated with chronic diseases, such as heart disease, kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and so those are the diseases that we are talking about. So the treatment that is available, treatment -- new generation of treatment like Ariness (ph) that's available -- Ariness (ph) does not deal with the particular problem itself, the disease itself, but deals with the anemia.
O'BRIEN: Does it work pretty well?
GLOVER: And it works well. You know. And see, this is the campaign that I'm involved with, this Anemia Lifeline, the campaign I'm involved with, is -- which is sponsored by Amgen, also the National Kidney Foundation, the Wellness Community and the National Anemia Action Council. The attempt here is to bring awareness about anemia and to tell people that anemia is treatable. And I think that's very key to it.
Now, as I said, and I'll keep reemphasizing this, we are not talking about being able to deal with the disease itself, but deal with the anemia that is associated with the disease.
O'BRIEN: And how widespread a problem is this?
GLOVER: Well, it's a major problem. The campaign, it was kicked off about four months ago, and we've had enormous hits on the Web site, which is www.anemia.com, and also on the toll free number, which is 888-722-4407. So we've had an incredible response from people. And people do not know that they could live better lives, more productive lives, if the anemia is detected and treated.
And because, as you say, they're dealing with the disease itself and not aware of the complications that anemia causes.
O'BRIEN: All right. And, finally, before you get away, let's shift gears just briefly here. Any projects in the works we are going to see on the silver screen soon?
GLOVER: Soon. It's a project that I will be shooting in August. You don't like to talk about projects before you start shooting, but then it will be shown on the silver screen.
O'BRIEN: All right. Don't want to hex those projects. Danny Glover, good luck with your efforts here, raising awareness about anemia, kidney disease as well, and good luck with the march today.
GLOVER: Thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for joining us on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, up very early in Portland, Oregon for us.
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