Would you let someone you know go on television and be interviewed if that person was that ill?
I'm sure much of America sat down and watched as Tammy Faye Messner went on Larry King Live discussing her lung cancer illness. The prognosis is death, but like so many in her case, she has decided to be a shining beacon of hope for those who suffer from the same illness.…
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26 - MARY GRANATA SMITH
CHRIS B.
YOU ARE OF COURSE ENTITLED TO YOUR OPINION. HOWEVER REMEMBER IF A PERSON IS TRULY SORRY THEN GOD IS FORGIVING. HE SEES EVERYTHING FROM YOU AS MUCH AS HE DID TAMMY. WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES. LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE. THIS IS JUST MY OPINION.
27 - Jodi
Since I'm soon going to post an essay about Hollywood (and America's) plastic surgery obsession, I would like to suggest that while she does look pretty awful, we as viewers have become unused to seeing "real" people on television. Yes, she looks bad, but that's what older people with cancer look like. Our reactions of disgust remind me of the woman in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World who visits an Indian reservation, sees an old person for the first time, and nearly passes out. So many people have been cleaned up for the cameras that we're really shocked by wrinkles, age, and sickness. Perhaps that is a problem as well.
28 - don
oh Good grief,
does everyone who posts a response here have a book coming out that they have to plug? Good for you and your essay, however the postings were about the lady specifically and not a discourse on the "evils" of plastic surgery. Frankly, I doubt there was enough plastic in the world to make her look real even when she was healthy. Tammy was to tears as Shaq is to sweat. apparently all you had to do was look at them amd their glands began excreting. do you have an essay about that?
29 - janice
As someone who has been in a battle with colon cancer for quite some time and is now in remission (I pray they are right, they have been wrong before) I Know at any time it can rear its ugly head almost anywhere, lungs, liver, original site, etc. It is so tempting to just give up and throw yourself a 24/7 pity party, but it doesn't change anything. For you who are throwing barbs at Tammy, most of you have never had to deal with anything like she has had and if you had seen that in your family or yourself maybe you wouldn't be so quick to poke jabs at her. She only did what she had always done. She knew she was the butt of jokes, but bless her heart she put on her face and went out there anyway. Don't you think she suffered enough? I firmly believe she is with our Lord and Savior and I hope to meet her there someday. Oh, by the way, colon cancer kills way more women than breast cancer. It took them 3 years and several colonoscopies to finally say yep it's cancer all right. This after pain that was almost unbearable and a mass so large I could barely go anymore, bleeding, nausea, and begging someone just to please find out what was wrong. When I finally found a doctor to biopsy that mass instead of looking for polyps, it showed what I had known and told them all along. After radiation and chemo and supposedly the cure, it was right back in less than a year. This time I had surgery and had a colostomy. Think life's a hoot, try it with a bag on your side, also with your rectum removed and sewn together. A fine place for painful scar tissue to form, in essence prohibiting you from sitting over a few minutes at a time. So it is hard to know what her life was like unless you've been there. I would ask that you all have regular check-ups and if you feel something is wrong, don't give up. It may make the difference between life and death. Godspeed, Tammy Fay. You made a difference.
30 - Chris B.
In that case Mary, I truly do hope that Tammy Faye is sorry for all she did. I agree that God sees all and through His Son, Jesus Christ, forgives all. It certainly does not matter who one was in life. Only He knows what lies within us and forgives even when we cannot forgive ourselves. I have not cast a stone toward her, not in life and certainly not in death. In this case my blog takes a look at the humerous aspects of Tammy Faye as a character, and she was that. I am in no position to judge her nor do I wish to. I leave that to a much higher being.
As to the interview with Larry King, I must say that his willingness to do so was, at the very least, a double edged sword. Mr. King has interviewed many controversial people on any number of subject matter that might also be considered controversial given time frame, impact and other deciding factors. To consider a thing tasteless, one does not necessarily have to disagree with its value as a newsworthy or noteworthy and humanitarian message. Tammy Faye had her reasons to give this interview and Larry King had his for taking part in it. While few of us actually get to witness the long or short road to someone's death and the toll it takes on one's mind and body along the way, I'm not certain the Tammy Faye piece had any value other than shock. When I referred to the great 1945 film starring Hurd Hatfield, George Sanders and a very young Angela Lansbury, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," it was only to illustrate what Tammy Faye had become, in a visual sense, compared to what she once was. If you've never seen the film before I highly recommend it.
31 - janice
I neglected to mention in my earlier note that my colon cancer came with absolutely no risk factors, no family history of colon or for that matter no close relative with cancer at all. I was 49 when diagnosed and it had been there 2-3 years. I had a hysterectomy years earlier and was told that I didn't really need pap smears any longer. Had I had those most likely my ob-gyn would have noticed it earlier. It is extremely important for ladies to have their mammograms but please don't forget to schedule a colonoscopy. They are not nearly as uncomfortable as most people think. I stayed awake for several of them. That was a little uncomfortable but I wanted to see what it looked like and I am glad I did. I will get off my soap box and I apologize if I have offended anyone.That is not my intention. May God bless you all.
32 - Nance
I think Tammy wanted to say goodbye to people that loved her....It seemed to make her happy...what's so wrong with that...May she Rest In Peace...With Our LORD JESUS CHRIST