My 10 seconds of fame

Last night, in the middle of dinner at Bertucci's, my Blackberry started buzzing like crazy. There was an opportunity for me to comment on the 11 o'clock news about an exciting new piece of legislation - a ban on the use of the marketing terms "Light" or "Low-tar" in reference to cigarettes.

This is huge news for anyone with an interest in cancer - and spefically lung cancer since we're always tarred with the smoking brush (pardon the pun) so I didn't want to pass it up. But at the same time, it was a bit of a challenge. And I was at a pizza joint.

As lung cancer advocates, we work very hard to try and erase the smoking stigma that plagues lung cancer patients and their families. Yes, smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer, but smoking is also the leading cause of heart disease and is the leading risk factor for a number of other cancers including bladder, kidney, esophageal, pancreatic, cervical and even some leukemias. Only 20% of smokers die from lung cancer, and 10-15% of people who get lung cancer never smoked at all, so it's not a total cause and effect type of equation.

Unfortunately though, lung cancer still bears the brunt of the smoking stigma and that's the main battle we fight in trying to get people to have compassion for the disease and also to get more funding for research so that we can start to finally increase survival rates. Lung cancer survival rates haven't changed in 35 years! They've remained stuck at a paltry 15% - and it's mostly because people view lung cancer as a disease that people bring on themselves.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about the light and low-tar cigarettes without linking it 100% to lung cancer, which was a little bit complicated and I was more than a little bit nervous.

I ended up saying something like this:

"My mom died from lung cancer and although she quit smoking 18 years before her diagnosis, she did smoke - and like many smokers, she thought by smoking "light" cigarettes, she was making the healthy choice. The truth is, there is no healthy choice when it comes to cigarettes and smoking isn't just a huge risk factor for lung cancer, which my mother had, but also for cardio-vascular disease and a number of other cancers from bladder to pancreatic."

At least I HOPE I was that eloquent!

I think more likely my quote was peppered with "ums" and "ahhhs" and "you knows." It all happened so fast. One minute I was scarfing down pizza. The next I was standing outside Bertucci's with a camera in my face. Oh, and the reporter, Sean Kelly, is super-tall so he stood in the gutter while I stood on the curb so we'd appear somewhat similar in height. Just a little visual for you all.

In the end, the segment didn't air until about 12:30 am after the Lakers playoff game. I fell asleep on the couch waiting to see it. Chuck saw it though and said I "looked good" which is always nice to hear, but he also said that it was "so quick" and I was on for about 10 seconds.

In hindsight, that might be a good thing. I can look at this experience as a chance to practice my "TV" skills and if there's another opportunity for us to comment on something that relates to lung cancer in the future, I'll be that much more ready for my "close-up." Maybe next time I won't have to wipe the pizza crumbs off my face seconds before air time.