SWEET BROWN

If you said something like, “I have to go to the grocery store on my way home from work,” to, say, a co-worker… and said co-worker replied with, “Aint nobody got time fo dat!” would you understand what she meant?  Well you will after watching this 2 minute video.  It just may be my favorite 2 minute video of all time.  And while the first 30 seconds are great, make sure you watch the entire thing!  Thanks Jennifer Burton for enlightening me.

I NEEDED A GOOD LAUGH

I’ve had a heck of a few weeks dealing with sickness while still trying to prepare for my race coming up on July 28th.  And then I remembered this email.  A friend’s ad agency, The Impetus Group, puts these videos together.  They feature animals that can talk… or at least what they would say if they could talk.  And here’s the latest one… it’s GREAT!

BREAST DENSITY LEGISLATION

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The fight has just begun. Even though today it ended here in the state of Nevada. The fight will continue all across this country. I’m talking about breast density legislation. Today, Governor Brian Sandoval signed AB 147 into law. This will make it mandatory for physicians to inform women who get mammograms what type of breast tissue they have. Why is this important? Because dense breast tissue is more prone to develop breast cancer. AND tumors are harder to see on a mammogram for women with dense breasts. For example… my mom had a CLEAN mammogram and then 6 months later, she was diagnosed with end stage cancer. She had 4 tumors in her left breast.  1 in her neck. And of 54 lymph nodes taken out, 38 were cancerous. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for cancer to spread that quickly. My mom had breast cancer, undetected in her annual mammograms, for years! She didn’t die of breast cancer. She died because she had dense breasts. Had she known she had dense breasts, I’m positive she would have paid the $150 a year for additional screening. Her cancer would have been picked up years earlier. She would be alive today. Here’s the story of the signing:

KTVN Channel 2 – Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video –

OK, now that I’m off my soapbox (momentarily) I’ll return to humor tomorrow.  Because you will not believe what happened moments before the signing occurred. Only in my life would something so important happen so haphazardly!

 

WHAT IS DENSE BREAST TISSUE

I had an extremely emotional, yet gratifying day today. I testified in support of Nevada Assembly Bill 147 in front of the Heath and Human Services committee at the Nevada Legislature. The goal of the 20130311-220247.jpgbill is the make it mandatory for doctors to inform their patients if they have dense breast tissue. “What?” you say. What is this “dense breast tissue” you speak of? Never heard of it? That’s weird because 40% OF YOU HAVE DENSE BREAST TISSUE. And that puts you at a higher risk for getting breast cancer. Why? Because dense breast tissue can hide tumors. Tumors are grey, dense tissue is grey. The cancer blends in and often times can’t be seen. Yet no one talks about dense breast tissue. Well, I sure as hell am… and here’ s why.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in November of 2010. 6 months prior, she had a clean mammogram. So just last week, I called her surgeon. I asked, first off, if she had dense breast tissue. “Yes, she had heterogeneously dense tissue,” was the reply. Next question. Is there any way her tumor started the day after she had her last mammogram and in 6 months spread to her neck and 38 lymph nodes? “No” was the reply. For a cancer cell to multiply and become 1 centimeter, it takes 5-9 years. MY MOM HAD THIS CANCER GROWING IN HER BREAST FOR AT LEAST 5 YEARS AND IT WAS NEVER PICKED UP WITH A MAMMOGRAM. Holy Shit! That’s all I could say to myself. Holy shit, holy shit… my mom didn’t need to die! If she was told she had dense breast tissue, I guarantee she would have done an additional ultrasound screening. That ultrasound would have likely picked up her cancer years before it had metastasized so aggressively and she would be alive today. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. I believe every woman has a right to know if she has dense breast tissue. Then she can decide if she wants to pay for the additional ultrasound screenings (insurance doesn’t cover this type of screening, go figure!).

20130311-220254.jpgDr. Nancy Cappello, from Conneticut, is the woman who brought the issue of dense breast tissue to light.  She has dense breast tissue and was diagnosed with a late stage breast cancer in 2004.  She got similar legislation passed in Connecticut and also created the organization www.areyoudense.org  This is one of the only places you can get understandable information about this issue (yes, you can read medical journals but trust me they are no fun!).  She also testified at the Nevada Legislature today and I couldn’t be more impressed with her determination to inform women. 

And that’s where I stand.  I don’t want to tell the medical field how to do their job.  I really don’t.  In fact, I have a doctor friend who I respect who has sent me tons of literature opposing  bills like these.  But for me, it comes down to my gut instinct that WOMEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW.  Then you can make your own decisions about what you do with that information.  I can’t turn my back on that belief and the belief that had my mom known about her breast density she would be alive today.  Here’s my final word:  FIND OUT FROM YOUR DOCTOR WHAT TYPE OF BREAST TISSUE YOU HAVE!  Only a mammogram can determine this.  Size, shape, feel… it doesn’t matter.  It’s tissue you are born with.  Your doctors knows the answer to what type of tissue you have…. shouldn’t you too??

 

 

 

RUSSIAN METEOR EXPLOSION

Last week, I showed you why you should never ever go in the ocean again.  So to be fair, I thought I should show you why none of us is safe on land either.  This is a meteor, the size of a school bus (and why do they always say they are the size of a school bus?) as it explodes just outside Moscow, Russia.  Amazingly, no one was killed.  1,000 were injured, mostly from flying debris.  This video, and dozens more, was captured on a dash cam.  Amazingly, most Russians have dash cams in their cars… to prove… “it really was a meteor falling from the sky, honey, and that’s why I headed to the bar for one last swig of vodka!  I thought the world might really be coming to an end.  Look!  I can show you on my dash cam!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

STORIES FROM THE DEEP

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 What is up with our oceans lately?  They are producing some amazing stories.   Take this shark eating seal for example.
A blue shark off the coast of Cape Point, South Africa (© hgm-press)

Never before seen: seal chows down on massive sharks

(from MSN)

Here’s something you don’t see every day: A cuddly fur seal killing and eating five enormous, deadly sharks. The extraordinary scene was captured off the coast of South Africa by divers Chris and Monique Fallows. “In more than 2,000 expeditions working with sharks over the last 21 years, this is the only time I have ever seen a seal kill several sharks,” says Chris. “I can find no record of such an event happening elsewhere.” Chris snapped away in amazement as the seal snacked on the first two sharks, chowing down on their stomachs and livers, and then killed three more.

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And then did you hear about this guy??  A giganic squid we’ve all assumed lived deep within the darkness of the ocean… well, he actually exists.  And yes, I saw “he.”  This dude is ugly… and scary.  Too ugly and scary to be a chica.

I’m all for Discovery and Nat Geo.  They bring us amazing pictures of thing we otherwise would never see.  But really?  I’m ok, not knowing there’s an eight legged sea creature 4 stories tall that could rise from the depths and hug me to death with suckers the size of my face.  And I’ve always been afraid of sharks, thanks to my parents taking me to see Jaws in the movie theatre AT AGE 4, and now I have to be afraid of seals too?  I’ve come to realize ignorance is bliss in many things in this world. And that includes stories from the deep.  I’d rather not know what’s looking up at me while I’m swimming on the surface of the ocean!

EVIL VS. THE BEST SIDE OF HUMANITY

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A mom hugs her kids following the shooting at a school in Connecticut

This has happened way too many times. Far too often I’ve fought back tears during live TV because of a senseless act. And the latest time happened this past Friday. And it was particularly tough on this day. December 14th was my station’s 20th annual Share Your Christmas food drive. We raise more than 170,000 pounds of food in one day. We help to feed 97,000 people a month who depend on the Food Bank of Northern Nevada for food. This is an important day because it shows the best side of humanity. It shows what we are truly all about as a community and as a race. We were all in place in the darkness of the early morning. And right at 5 am, the cheerful, lighthearted, Christmasy music went out over the airwaves and with smiling face, we began encouraging thousands of people to come donate food. The day started just as it had the past 19 years. My co-anchor, Kristen, even bought us fun braided hats so we could all laugh and create an air of silliness. That is what this day is all about. But just after 10 am we learned CBS was cutting into our show with breaking news. We sat in the freezing cold watching the chilling details of the school shooting in Connecticut. The tears immediately filled to the brim of my eyes and then slowly overflowed, unstoppable, as we learned dozens were dead, mostly children between the ages of 5 and 10. Schools are supposed to be safe. When a gunman opens fire at a shopping mall, we think “our kids are safe, they are at school.” When a crazed lunatic opens fire inside an I Hop restaurant we think, “our kids are safe, they are at school.” But this time a school became the shooting range. Didn’t this asshole know SCHOOLS ARE OFF LIMITS TO COWARDS LIKE YOU!!!!  I wanted to run to my kids and take them home. It took every ounce of strength I had to not pick them up. But I didn’t.  I had a job to do that day. And that was to show the good side of humanity. To not let evil win. To shine some light on this horribly dark day. So at 3pm, once again, the cheerful, lighthearted, Christmasy music went out over the airwaves and then we popped up on live TV. At first, I was afraid to speak. Afraid my voice would crack and the tears would return. But instead, as the words flowed from my heart and out of my mouth, I gained strength. We spoke about the horrors one single person can inflict upon a town, but we also wanted to show the good side of humanity and how an entire community comes together to feed the hungry. From darkness to light. From horror to hope. This is what we do. We make difficult transitions on live TV because we believe in the largest part of humanity. The part that comes out and donates food and money so those facing harder times than ourselves can feed their families. People like you who live every day as a good decent human being.  What evil people don’t understand is when they act out and terrorize a community, the rest of us circle the wagons.  We come together as stronger communities, families and individuals.  Yes, evil people break our hearts.  They make us cry and ask why.  But in the end, they make us better people.  More loving.  More kind.  More compassionate.   And by the end of our Share Your Christmas food drive, more than 190,000 pounds of food was collected.  And more than $170,000 was donated.  That’s the good side of humanity.  The side that will never be defeated. 

 

LIVING LIFE

 

Besse Cooper, According to the Associated Press, the world’s oldest woman passed away peacefully at the age of 116 yesterday afternoon. After reading this article, it reminded me of a photo album I made my mom during her final bout with chemotherapy. This is what I wrote on the first page of the album:
 
The day we are born, the sand starts slipping through our individual hour glass. For some, the sand falls quickly. Like a river that refuses to be dammed. These are the stories we refer to as “heartbreaking.” They are the children who die young. For others, their sand barely trickles through the opening; dropping out almost one grain at a time. These are the people we say are “lucky” to have lived so long. But neither group is heartbreaking nor lucky in my opinion. It’s simply the time God gave us on this Earth. Maybe the man who lived past 100 did nothing with his life. Was he lucky? And on the flipside, the story of a little girl who died before her 5th birthday yet changed the world. Is that heartbreaking? We can’t slow down our stream of sand. Nor can we speed it up. It is what it is. But you do have power over one thing. Only YOU can decide how much LIFE you have left to live. You get to pick and choose what you want to do with the remaining grains of sand that have yet fall. LIFE isnt determined in days, months and years. But in experiences that become memories for everyone involved. Go live your LIFE because no one knows how many grains of sand we have left.
 

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10:45AM EST December 5. 2012 – MONROE, Ga. (AP) — The woman who was listed as the world’s oldest person died Tuesday in a Georgia nursing home at age 116.Besse Cooper died peacefully Tuesday afternoon in Monroe, according to her son Sidney Cooper. Monroe is about 45 miles east of Atlanta.

Cooper said his mother had been ill recently with a stomach virus, then felt better Monday.

On Tuesday, he said she had her hair set and watched a Christmas video, but later had trouble breathing. She was put on oxygen in her room and died there about 2 p.m., Cooper said.

“With her hair fixed it looked like she was ready to go,” he said.

STORY: Iowa woman is now world’s oldest person

 

MY ENTREE TO SOAPS…GONE

When I was in elementary school , my mom and I used to watch Dallas every Monday night with a glass of ice  milk and a “gloppy ” dessert.  My mom loved her sweets!   Dallas was my gateway drug to all other soap operas.  Dynasty, Knotts Landing, General Hospital and Days of Our Lives. I was totally addicted to my soaps.  In 6th grade, all the popular girls got off the bus in the Rudgear neighborhood.  That meant they got to their TVs in time for the start of “Days.”   I was the last kid to be dropped off… Just me and Bus Driver Jean.  I got home at 3:20.  20 minutes into my soap. Oh how I longed to live in  Rudgear! So it was a shock to learn of the passing of JR Ewing… But it brought back a lot of good memories watching my soaps with my mom and, like the rest of the world, trying to figure out who shot him all those years ago.

Larry Hagman dies at 81; TV’s J.R. Ewing

The actor became a TV star in the 1960s sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie.” In 1980, an estimated 300 million viewers in 57 countries saw J.R. get shot.

Dallas castCast members from the CBS series “Dallas,” from left: Jim Davis, Barbara Bel Geddes, Patrick Duffy and Larry Hagman. (CBS / November 23, 2012)

 

By Valerie J. Nelson Los Angeles TimesNovember 23, 2012, 9:51 p.m.

Fervor for the television show “Dallas” was intense in 1980, when the Queen Mother met actor Larry Hagman and joined the worldwide chorus asking: “Who shot J.R.?”

“Not even for you, ma’am,” replied Hagman, who portrayed villainous oil baron J.R. Ewing at the center of the popular prime-time soap from 1978 until 1991.

An estimated 300 million viewers in 57 countries had seen J.R. get shot by an unseen assailant, a season-ending plot twist that is credited with popularizing the cliffhanger in television series.

PHOTOS: Larry Hagman | 1931-2012

Hagman, who became a television star in the 1960s starring in the sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie,” died Friday at a Dallas hospital, said a spokesman for actress Linda Gray, his longtime co-star on “Dallas.” He was 81.

A year ago, Hagman announced his second bout with cancer. He had spoken candidly about decades of drinking that led to cirrhosis of the liver and, in 1995, a life-saving liver transplant.

“He was the pied piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew,” Gray said in a statement. “He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented…. an original and lived life to the full.”

INTERACTIVE: Hagman’s Hollywood star

For years, he was considered the unofficial mayor of Malibu, where he lived for decades in an oceanfront home. He often led impromptu ragtag parades on the sand while wearing outlandish costumes and flew a flag from his deck that declared “Vita Celebratio Est” — “Life is a celebration.”

As an actor, Hagman came with a serious pedigree. He was the son of Mary Martin, a legendary star of Broadway musicals best known for originating the role of Peter Pan in the 1950s.

On “Dallas,” Hagman’s J.R. Ewing was “the man viewers loved to hate,” according to critics, a scheming Texan in a land of plenty. Much of the show’s run paralleled the nation’s fascination with big money and big business in the 1980s, and the role made him an international star.

PHOTOS: Texas-based TV shows

“Here is a man born to play villainy,” former Times TV critic Howard Rosenberg wrote soon after the show’s debut. “His performance on ‘Dallas’ is a salute to slime.”

AFTERLIFE EXISTS SAYS A TOP BRAIN SURGEON, AND I AGREE

A prominent scientist who had previously dismissed the possibility of the afterlife says he has reconsidered his belief after experiencing an out of body experience which has convinced him that heaven exists. I know it does. I too have seen it first hand. When my mom was dying she saw my dad, who had died two years previously, in the window. She told us he was there to come get her. You can hear her for yourself on November 29th when I air a special about her battle with breast cancer. More details on that to come but for now, here’s the article from Mark Hughes:

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While in a coma the neurosurgeon says he was met by a beautiful woman in a ‘place of clouds, big fluffy pink-white ones.’
Dr Eben Alexander, a Harvard-educated neurosurgeon, fell into a coma for seven days in 2008 after contracting meningitis.
During his illness Dr Alexander says that the part of his brain which controls human thought and emotion “shut down” and that he then experienced “something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death.” In an essay for American magazine Newsweek, which he wrote to promote his book Proof of Heaven, Dr Alexander says he was met by a beautiful blue-eyed woman in a “place of clouds, big fluffy pink-white ones” and “shimmering beings”.
He continues: “Birds? Angels? These words registered later, when I was writing down my recollections. But neither of these words do justice to the beings themselves, which were quite simply different from anything I have known on this planet. They were more advanced. Higher forms.” The doctor adds that a “huge and booming like a glorious chant, came down from above, and I wondered if the winged beings were producing it. the sound was palpable and almost material, like a rain that you can feel on your skin but doesn’t get you wet.”
Dr Alexander says he had heard stories from patients who spoke of outer body experiences but had disregarded them as “wishful thinking” but has reconsidered his opinion following his own experience.
He added: “I know full well how extraordinary, how frankly unbelievable, all this sounds. Had someone even a doctor told me a story like this in the old days, I would have been quite certain that they were under the spell of some delusion.”