'Rollercoaster' author wary about cancer story

D.C. article outlines breast cancer myths — but doesn't the lore contain some truths?

Paige Winfield Cunningham

Despite the information explosion online and elsewhere, myths still exist about breast cancer.

At least that's the contention of Paige Winfield Cunningham, a health-care correspondent for the Washington Examiner, who recently wrote an article — distributed by the Washington Post — listing these five:

1. Breast cancer is mostly linked to family history.
2. Birth-control pills increase the risk of developing the disease. 
3. Larger breasts mean greater risk.
4. All women should do a monthly breast self-exam.
5. Breast cancer research needs more money. 

In my view, Cunningham's too-brief summations leave much to be desired, and contain distortions of the truth.

And could lead patients, caregivers and other supporters into dangerous non-actions.

For example, the writer claims women don't need to do monthly self-exams because statistically those examinations don't improve survival rates. Tell that to my wife: She found her breast cancer early because of self-exams in the shower. She might not be alive today otherwise.

Statistics should be used only as a guideline. 

Each person is an individual, and should make up her own mind regarding prevention and, if necessary, treatment.

My wife's choices are documented in my VitalityPress book, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer" — which, although aimed at males, can be of use to female patients as well as caregivers. In "Rollercoaster," I, Woody Weingarten, show my wife's decisions but also provide an up-to-date look at research and meds, as well as a guide of where to find help. 

Cunningham's last myth, about funding, contains the notion that "compared with other types of cancer, breast cancer research is swimming in money…thanks to a highly effective public-awareness push that began way before any other anti-cancer efforts."

Why not, instead of implying that breast cancer money should go elsewhere, suggest other cancer organizations beef up their appeals? 

I could nit-pick with the way Cunningham presents each of the other three "myths" as well, though their assumptions are basically correct.

Quick, over-simplified lists aimed at gaining an audience generally aren't helpful to potential patients or caregivers, in my opinion — and could, in fact, be hazardous to their health. And that's true regarding any disease, especially life-threatening ones, not just breast cancer.

Television interview spotlights Woody Weingarten

'Rollercoaster' author debuts on TV, on Comcast — an interview also slated for YouTube 

No matter how hard I try, I'll never be another Kim Kardashian. 

I just don't know how to promote myself that well.

Besides, I've never made a sex tape.

And don't plan to.

Woody Weingarten (left) and David Perry.

Celebrity isn't what I'm looking for anyway. But I — Woody Weingarten — would graciously accept fame as an adjunct to selling thousands of copies of my VitalityPress book, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer" — and, thereby, effectively spreading the message that male caregivers needn't remain an invisible part of the breast cancer equation.

David Perry, host and a longtime communications pro, did the interview for my debut, which covered not only my book but my leadership of the Marin Man to Man support group for 20 years.

The show is "Ten Percent" — on Comcast Hometown Network Channel 104, a cable station.

My part of what's known in the trade as Episode #173 follows an interview with Linda Crawford, executive director of the Presidio's Interfaith Center.

The program, taped in a San Francisco studio April 23, will be telecast repeatedly — at 11:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. from Monday through Friday, May 18-22, 2015, and then again at 10:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 23 and 24.

And by midweek, it should also be available on YouTube, just in case you're not a Comcast subscriber.

David, producer of the show, which is aimed at the LGBT community in Northern California, was efficiently assisted by his coordinating producer Michael Micael.

They made the whole thing a breeze for me, so easy I came out saying, "Today, 'Ten Percent,' tomorrow, 'Good Morning America.'"

From my lips to the ears of God? Well, I can dream, can't I?

CEO and founder of David Perry & Associates, a "strategic communications firm," David specializes in community and government affairs, social media, public/media relations, and crisis communications.

The show, not incidentally, will also be able to be screened, 24/7, "On Demand" through Comcast (by choosing "Get Local" and "Comcast Hometown," which will take you to "Ten Percent").

Do nail salons breed cancers, other health woes?

Chemicals in nail products threaten manicurists, clients with cancers and miscarriages

Can manicures be hazardous to your health?

Possibly.

According to The New York Times, new medical research shows links "between the chemicals that make nail and beauty products useful…and serious health problems."

The problems are not so distinct for customers, but they're apparently clear for "manicurists who handle the chemicals and breathe their fumes for hour on end, day after day."

In a May 8 article by Sarah Maslin Nir, the Times claimed "stories and tragedy abound at nail salons across the country, of children born slow or 'special,' of miscarriages and cancers, of coughs that will not go away and painful skin afflictions."

Older manicurists, it said, "warn women of child-bearing age away from the business, with its potent brew of polishes, solvents, hardeners and glues that nail workers handle daily."

The federal law that regulates cosmetics safety doesn't require companies to share data with the Food and Drug Administration.

Warnings basically have been ignored by manufacturers of the risky products, and the industry has vigorously fought regulation.

As a follow-up to the Times piece, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered emergency measures initiated to help quash the health hazards, educate workers of their rights, and fight apparent wage theft. He called for a task force to conduct probes and close salons that don't meet the new standards.

Among the changes he demanded are the mandatory wearing of gloves and masks, proper ventilation for the salons, and requiring bonds to ensure payments to workers.

Cancer in all its forms, of course, is the scourge of our time. Once contracted, it is likely to turn into an ordeal of ups and downs — such as I, Woody Weingarten, chronicled in my VitalityPress book, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer" — which focuses on a male caregiver's journey through surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and the aftermath of all those treatments.

My book also provides up-to-date coverage of breast cancer research and meds — as well as a guide to where help can be obtained.

Blog praises Woody Weingarten's caregiving book

Veteran author, blogger thinks 'Rollercoaster' helps male caregivers cope with cancer

The main subject of a new Goodreads blog is that  "Rollercoaster" can assist male caregivers in dealing with breast cancer.

Veteran blogger-journalist-novelist-publicist Debbie Cohen writes about what "sometimes slips through the cracks" after diagnosis — a "male partner's concurrent need for assurance in his new role as…primary caregiver."

Debbie Cohen

She says that being "expected to be a pillar of strength…can be a frightening experience for many men. To help that fear, veteran journalist Woody Weingarten has written an important book titled "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer."

It's "exactly the type of book that Weingarten could have used himself," she notes. "He lost his first wife to breast cancer."

Although the book's focus is on breast cancer, her blog continues, "any caregivers, particularly those who are there for patients with AIDs, Alzheimers or, indeed, any life-threatening or altering disease, would benefit from it."

"Rollercoaster" is a memoir-chronicle, a love story, and an up-to-the-minute guide to research, meds, and where to get help.

Debbie's blog is appropriately titled "Why We Need More Books and Advocacy On Behalf of Male Caregivers."

Her first book, "Keeper of the Scale," which deals with body image and the power of female friendships in forming a "diet buddy" threesome.  It is available in both paperback and in ebook format.

Caregiving for cancer patients: parallel feelings?

Tom Hanks, 'Rollercoaster' author share need to give care to breast cancer patient wives

Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks has become an instant male caregiver.

Why?

Because his 58-year-old actress wife, Rita Wilson, recently choose to undergo a double mastectomy.

And reconstructive breast surgery.

She'd been diagnosed with breast cancer after a first test, a biopsy, had mistakenly come back negative.

Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks

The disease and operations — according to the Daily Dish site of the San Francisco Chronicle — caused her to temporarily absent herself from "Fish in the Dark," a Broadway play she'd been appearing in.

She was quoted as telling People magazine she's "getting better every day" and expects "to make a full recovery."

Hanks now must deal with feelings similar to those I experienced when my wife underwent "slash, poison and burn" treatments for breast cancer 20 years ago — feelings detailed in my new VitalityPress book, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer."

My book — aimed at husbands, boyfriends, fathers, sons and brothers of breast cancer patients — is a memoir-chronicle, a love story, and an up-to-the-minute guide to research, meds and where to get help.

It illustrates that, despite surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, there can be light at the end of the tunnel. 

According to the American Cancer Society, 13 percent of American women (one in every eight) will get breast cancer at some point, with three-quarters of them having no risk factors except that they’re female.

Wilson — who married Hanks in 1988 and subsequently appeared with him in "Sleepless in Seattle," "That Thing You Do!" and Larry Crowne" — took action after getting a second medical opinion, something she recommends to others as being "critical to your health."

Trust your instincts, she advised, adding that "early diagnosis is key."

Disease-free? Book still worth reading, site says

'Rollercoaster' is praised in online article for showing men how they can be good partners 

A new examiner.com feature article titled "Woody Weingarten's ride through wife's breast cancer may help you" states unequivocally that my book "is worth reading even if no one in your life has cancer."

Why?

"Because," it says, "it is filled with very smart clues about how a man can be the best possible husband or partner. And how a wife can help him be that."

"Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," the story points out accurately, is also "a guide to give people a sense of what they will be facing" if, unfortunately, a life-threatening disease does strike.

It furthermore labels the book "a memoir, a love story, a research guide, and some realities of chemotherapy and medications."

Written by Janet Gallin as an adjunct to her "Love Letters Live" podcast package, the online piece notes that the "husband of a woman diagnosed with breast cancer has to…survive his own terror in order to be a strength to her."

How to do that, despite the ups and downs, is the main thrust of my new VitalityPress book.

Accordingly, the article indicates, "Rollercoaster" can help you figure out what is true concerning the disease, its treatments and its aftermath — and, by the same token, what is not. 

And that's not as easy as a caregiver or patient might think. "A study says X is true and Y is false, the next week it is the opposite," I'm correctly quoted as saying.

The piece maintains that I'm a survivor of my wife's cancer.

I am.

But she, too, is a survivor. And we're both thriving.

You can read the entire article here — and then learn even more by following a couple of its links.

'Liquid biopsy' — new weapon in cancer battle?

'Rollercoaster' author cheered by blood test that can help locate patients' cancer DNA 

Gina Kolata

"Liquid biopsy," a new blood test, has shown promise of locating cancer DNA in a patient's bloodstream, according to an article in "The New York Times."

The piece appeared April 19 under the byline of Gina Kolata, the newspaper's health writer. 

It encouraged me, Woody Weingarten, and gave me renewed hope.

I tend to be a rose-colored glasses kind of guy anyway, and believe it's cause for celebration any time anything that even resembles a breakthrough pops up.

My book, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," will attest to my positive thinking, to my steadfast belief that there can be light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

Kolata's article says the "hope is that a simple blood draw — far less onerous for patients than a traditional biopsy or CT scan — will enable oncologists to quickly figure out whether a treatment is working."

Failing treatments, she continued, "could be abandoned quickly, sparing patients grueling side effects and allowing doctors to try alternatives."

Care by 'Rollercoaster' author parallels singer's

Celine Dion's caregiving for her cancer-patient husband mirrors that of 'Rollercoaster' author

Celine Dion with husband Rene Angelil

Superstar Celine Dion's caregiving for her throat-cancer patient husband Rene Angelil isn't far removed from the care I gave breast-cancer patient Nancy Fox, my wife.

In the final analysis, I'm convinced, all caregiving overlaps.

The singer's accounts weren't surprising: Women, are natural caregivers. 

We men, however, are used to believing we can fix everything — even when we can't. So the caregiving role doesn't fit us quite so easily.

It sometimes becomes necessary anyway.

The pop diva and I are two of what The New York Times reports are more than 35 million caregivers in the United States.

Dion recently publicized her helpmate activities — including feeding her husband-longtime manager through a tube three times every day — on television's "Good Morning America." Her tearful interview was conducted by Deborah Roberts of ABC News.

As for me, I wrote extensively about my caregiving role in a new VitalityPress book, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer." 

It's a volume — available in hardcover, paperback and ebook formats — that's aimed at male caregivers. It supplies information on the latest research and meds, and indicates where to get help.

The 47-year-old Canadian singer took a year off from her Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace in August to deal with Angelil's disease. 

She said during the ABC-TV telecast, "We are taking life one day at a time, but we are choosing to live.”

She also noted that her partner "can’t use his mouth, he can’t eat, so I feed him…I do this myself. And so I feed my husband and I feed my kids.”

Dion has three sons with Angelil, 72, whose cancer returned late last year after being in remission since 1999. 

He subsequently stepped down as her manager, and was replaced by Aido Giampaolo.

Dion hopes to return to Vegas in August with a revamped show. 

Regarding her daughter's caregiving, Therese Dion, a TV personality in Quebec, was quoted a while back by the Toronto Sun as saying, "I think it’s so beautiful and smart for Celine to be with her husband and children. She reassures the kids."