Cancer

Graphic novelist Harvey Pekar emerged from obscurity in the surprise film hit American Splendor. His new graphic novel, The Quitter, offers details of Pekar's upbringing in 1950s Cleveland.

Dr. Sandra Horning and Dr. David Johnson are both oncologists. Horning is the current president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the largest group of cancer-treatment specialists. Johnson was president before her. Both of them are cancer survivors — the first to lead the 41-year-old society. Horning practices and does research on lymphomas at Stanford. She is also co-chairman of the oncology society's task force on cancer survivorship. Johnson is deputy director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tenn.

Writer Samuel G. Freedman's new book is Who She Was: My Search for My Mother's Life. Freedman's mother died many years ago, when he was just 18, and as he approached his mother's age when she died, he decided to find out all about her life. The result is a narrative fueled by facts.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Marriage: A Duet. It's a book of two novellas by Anne Taylor Fleming.

Novelist Carol Shields won a Pulitzer Prize for her best-selling novel, The Stone Diaries. Her books are often about middle-class people leading quiet lives. Her other novels include Larrys Party, which won Britains Orange Prize, The Republic of Love and Swann: A Mystery. She also wrote a biography of Jane Austen as well as plays, poetry and story collections. In 1998 Shields was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is now in a late stage of the disease. Her new novel, Unless (Fourth Estate), was written after her diagnosis.

Cancer researcher John Mendelsohn, M.D. is the president of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas. We will talk about new developments in cancer treatment. Mendelsohn created a new cancer drug, known as C225. The drug shows great promise in treating a number of cancers by halting the growth of cancer cells. There has been an explosion in the number of cancer drugs in recent years.

Head of Solid Tumor Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Dr. Larry Norton. He'll discuss the newest treatments for cancer.

Laura Landro has written the new book "Survivor: Taking Control of Your Fight Against Cancer." (Simon & Schuster) In 1991, Landro, then a Wall Street Journal reporter, was diagnosed with leukemia. She used her journalist training to seek out the best form of treatment. She is now senior editor of entertainment, media, and marketing coverage at the Wall Street Journal.

Robert Weinberg is the author of the new book "One Renegade Cell: How Cancer Begins." (Basic Books) Weinberg talks about how cancer develops and what can be done to stop it. He is Director of the Oncology Research Laboratory at the Whitehead Institute in Massachusetts. He is also a professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. He is also author of "Racing to the Beginning of the Road: The Search for the Origin of Cancer."

The former president of NBC Entertainment Brandon Tartikoff died yesterday at the age of 48 from complications from treatment for Hodgkin's disease. We remember him with a 1992 interview excerpt. While at NBC, he was responsible for such hit series as "The Cosby Show," "Cheer," "Miami Vice," and "Hill Street Blues." He went on to become chairman at Paramount Pictures. He wrote a book about his NBC years, "The Last Great Ride." (Turtle Bay Books). (REBROADCAST from 10/20/92)

The former Saturday Night Live performer was best known for, Pat, the gender-ambiguous character. Sweeney took the character the big screen, but the result was a flop. When her brother was diagnosed with cancer, she took him into her home to take care of him while he was getting treatment. Her parents also moved in. Sweeney began work on a performance piece as a way to deal with the situation. Her brother eventually died, and she herself was diagnosed with cancer. She's now in remission. Sweeney's one woman show is called "God Said, Ha!"

Author and Jungian analyst, Christina Middlebrook. Her new book, "Seeing the Crab: A Memoir of Dying" (Basic Books) describes how she and her family came to terms with her breast cancer diagnosis. In 1991, Middlebrook had a mastectomy and doctors told her she had a fifty percent chance of living two years. Her book honestly details the physical and emotional rigors of cancer treatment, as well as the changes it has caused in relationships with her family and friends.

Writer Tim McLaurin. He has a new novel called Cured by Fire (Putnam). McLaurin is also the author of two other novels The Acorn Plan, and Woodrow's Trumpet. He has been a Marine, a Peace Corps volunteer, and a snake handler. He currently teaches writing at North Carolina State University.

Love is the founding member of the Breast Cancer Coalition and founding director of the UCLA Breast Cancer, which is one of the world's leading breast treatment facilities. Her book Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book (Addison Wesley) is said to be one of the most important books in women's health in the last decade. A new, updated edition has just been published.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews "Our Cancer Year," about a couple's battle with cancer, by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner.

Writer Alexs Pate's first novel is called "Losing Absalom." It's a fictionalized tribute to his father that chronicles end of the title character's life as his family has gathered around his hospital bed. Writer John Willimas wrote, "Losing Absalom is a powerful yet sensitive embrace with black America today." Pate grew up in North Philadelphia and lives in Minneapolis.

Authority on complementary cancer treatments Michael Lerner. His book is called "Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches to Cancer" (The MIT Press).

Rollin's 1976 best-selling book about surviving breast-cancer, "First, You Cry," is being reissued. She lost one breast to cancer in 1975; in 1984, she had the other breast removed. Rollin also wrote the book, "Last Wish," about helping her mother -- who was dying from ovarian cancer -- to die.

When Ursula Seinige started her surgical residency, not much about breast cancer was known. In the early 80s, more treatments were developed, like the modified radical mastectomy. Two and a half years ago, Seinige was diagnosed with breast cancer. She joins Fresh Air to discuss her own treatment, as well as her role in a support group she founded for survivors of the disease.

Film critic Owen Gleiberman reviews "The Doctor," the new film starring William Hurt, about a doctor who gets cancer.