Arlen Specter "Never Give In"

I haven't read his book but you helped remind me of a very hard little fighter Kyle who died at the age 5 1/2 he had stage IV Wilms cancer.  I just looked back on  his caring bridge page and was saddened to see it's been 2 years March 8th that his battle finally ended but this little boy gave it all.  He was truly an amazing little boy that was loved by so many.  We always try to find our courage strength and spirit deep inside all of us, but sorry to say sometimes that's still not enough.  Kyle I am so sad your gone I will do my best to fight this just like you did.

Sandy/Sunshine : )

Donna--I couldn't agree more.  I hate a lot of the language of cancer:  fighter, survivor, heroes, kick ass, etc.  I suppose there is a very small percentage of people who get cancer and decide not to do the necessaries, whatever they may be and for whatever reason.  But those are personal decisions, and perhaps good ones for those few, and it's a very small number.  The vast majority of us do whatever we're told to by our doctors because that's what we have to do to live.   We all want to live. 

A book you might want to read is "Swimming in a Sea of Death," by David Rieff, the son of Susan Sontag.  I haven't read the book but I did read the review in the Times.  I plan to read it soon.  It's written from a different perspective, which is one of the reasons I want to read it.  I believe her son suggests that Sontag put herself through far too much suffering and experimental treatments when she had almost no chance of surviving.  I haven't read it, but that was my take from the review.

Here is a quotation from Sontag's obituary in the New Yorker, discussing Sontag's own book on illness, "Illness as Metaphor."  Out of her experience of breast cancer in the 1970's came "Illness as Metaphor," which examined the cultural mythologizing of disease (tuberculosis as the illness of 19th-century romantics, cancer a modern-day scourge). Although it did not discuss her illness explicitly, it condemned the often militaristic language around illness ("battling" disease, the "war" on cancer) that Ms. Sontag felt simultaneously marginalized the sick and held them responsible for their condition. 

Sontag died nearly thirty years after her first bout with cancer; she had a second bout (uterine cancer) in the 1990's, and died from an untreatable form of Leukemia in 2004.

I totally agree O4P!I was just coming to say that.I'm a total emmy, but have always loved and respected Arlen.

And I see the title as meaning "never give in and lie in bed".Because Senator Spector was in the senate all through his tx.He delivered speeches bald as an agg from chemo, and skinny with it.He never gave in, while he was fighting.He is quite old.

How long we live because of  fighting the cancer  isnt the point, I think.How, and THAT we live through tx , is. 

As Obama 4 President says,he did survive a lot(of tx).He is old.And he never stayed home lying in bed, drugged to the nines. I take my hat off to him!

Joan Hussein 

We all deal with things as best we can---Spector's Cancer is back and he will start back on Chemo---He has dealt with allot. Two brain tumor operations--bypass surgery -now a second bout of Hodgkins.

I wish him well.

Here is an excerpt from a conversation with Bill Mahler

MAHER: Yeah, I understand. Okay, so, let’s get to your book. It’s called Battling Cancer in the Senate: Never Give In. And, interesting quote – let’s get right to the funny parts—[laughter]—you say when you shook hands with President Bush, you said, “He was shaking my hand at a distance, sort of stretching and turning away.” You said, “I speculated he was thinking, ‘This guy is not going to make it. What he has now is not supposed to be contagious. But who really knows?” [laughter]

SPECTER: Well, Bill, I carry – I carry this photo with me everywhere—[he holds up photo of President George W. Bush shaking hands with him]

MAHER: Oh, yeah, look at that.

SPECTER: Because it shows President Bush’s body language. And I think he feels he has to shake my hand – I’m the chairman – but he’s speculating about whether I’m going to make it or whether it really is contagious. But, this picture is an illustration of what you have to put up with when you have Hodgkin’s cancer. And I write about it in my book, Never Give In—[laughter]—because I think if people – if people see the way I handled it, they can find a way through it, too.

I found the best thing to do was to drag myself out of bed every day and go to work. And the distraction that I had chairing the Judiciary Committee was great, and it gave me no time to think about myself. And I think if more people will do that, they’ll find that they can tolerate chemotherapy, as tough as it is.

MAHER: Okay, but – but, not to pile on President Bush, but how many people in America do you really think believe cancer is contagious? [laughter]

SPECTER: Well…

MAHER: [overlapping] That can’t be a high figure with people over ten. [laughter]

SPECTER: [overlapping] It is – it is – you don’t have – you don’t have to believe something is contagious. It’s a reaction that is not unusual if you have somebody who is sick or has one of the maladies. A lot of people go to wash their hands. I do it every now and then myself. Did you wash your hands, Bill? [laughter]

MAHER: [overlapping] And, you – no, I have a different view of health. I just wanted to point out that if you had ever been the vice presidential candidate with Bush, the ticket would have been called “Bush & Specter” [sounds like “bush inspector”] [laughter] But…[applause]

SPECTER: [overlapping] I would – Bill, I would have suffered—

MAHER: [overlapping] And, I’ve been waiting 12 years to do that joke. I just want to tell you. [laughter]

SPECTER: I would have suffered through that, Bill, if I’d had the chance. [laughter]

MAHER: [he laughs] That’s pretty good for a Republican, come on. [laughter] [applause]

Well, I’m in a high-risk profession. Listen, Bill, the two toughest things I’ve had was – were misdiagnoses. Once, a doctor told me had Lou Gehrig’s disease, which was fatal. He was wrong. Another doctor gave me three-to-six weeks to live on a malignant brain tumor, and – and he was wrong. So, I’ve been lucky enough to dodge a – a few bullets.

And, on these times when I was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and a malignant brain tumor, it emphasizes the point that even the best doctors can be wrong; so if somebody tells you something, get a second opinion. Don’t lose heart.

Bill, I believe – I believe there is a lot to be said for alternative medicine. But I think the best approach is to prevent these diseases. Tom Harkin and I, on a bipartisan basis, have taken the lead in increasing NIH funding from $12- to $30-billion. And the best way to deal with these illnesses is to prevent them. And if we really made up our mind as a nation – President Nixon declared war on cancer in 1970, and had that war been pursued with the same diligence as other wars, I never would have gotten cancer. And some of my best friends wouldn’t have died of prostate cancer or breast cancer. I think that’s the best way to do it. If we made up our mind to really get tough with these maladies.

MAHER: Well, I will take that as a “yes” vote for medical marijuana. Thank you very much. [applause] [cheers] Senator Arlen Specter.

SPECTER: Thank you. Thank you.