Though Tom Snyder, 68, has always been a bombastic blowhard, he's my kind of bombastic blowhard, full of enegy, life, opinions, self-assurance, but willing to laugh at himself as well. I haven't watched him in years but I am sad to hear he has leukemia.
He blurts that, and several other things, out on his website:
- a cat scan turned up some interesting stuff. My spleen is enlarged, which the doctors say might be crowding my stomach in my abdomen, thereby causing some of the bloating I am experiencing. And judging by my white cell count and a variety of other factors including what was shown on the cat scan, I have been diagnosed with something called chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Jesus H. Christ! When I was a kid leukemia was a death sentence. Now, my doctors say its treatable! With pills or chemotherapy or a combination of both. Lemme pause here on this word treatable. Four years ago they stuck a defibrillator/pacemaker in my chest because my heart disease was treatable! A year and a half ago a nearly torn tendon in my left leg was diagnosed as treatable. Then I came down with atrial fibrillation, but was told not to worry about that because it is treatable! I don't know how much more room I have in my aging carcass for this treatable shit! Anyway, my doctors assure me this is nothing to worry about, and I have to accept that, I guess.
...Am I the only one who noticed the opulence and wealth on display at the Pope's funeral? Am I the only one who was bothered by the Pope's body being hauled around the Vatican (I think displaying the body after death is barbaric)? As I watched the Cardinals in their red robes and sashes and the pomp and majesty of the ceremonies I kept thinking: we certainly have come a long way from the stable where Christ was born!
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Article comments
1 - NancyGail
There is a lot more to be doen now..
2 - Sean
I always liked Snyder. His late night talk show was great. He booked some great bands: The CLash, The Ramones, The Jam.
3 - Eric Olsen
he has been survivor and maintained his sense of humor in a treacherous business, and he appears to have th esame attitude toward the leukemia
4 - May
Tom Snyder? He's a great guy and was THE best back in the 70s and on .... mother in law and I drinking a can of cold ale and smoking our ciggies.... avidly watching Tom after 1 a.m. memories... An old interview of Tom with Charles Manson will just send shivers up your spine. Tom, you're a master.
5 - Lillian Hanson
Hello Posters,
For no special reason (maybe it was the angels
talking to me), I just thought of Tom while winding
up a letter to another blogger who somehow reminded
me of Tom back in the day. I Googled "Tom Snyder"
and found his old site, colortini.com, and found he
has some kind of leukemia. I am also a cancer sufferer, but used to watch his show avidly during
the 70's/80's and the early 90's. I was a single
mother raising two kids, and Tom was a beacon of
light in an otherwise dreary existence. He made me
grateful I still had a working brain and a quest
for truth in all that I did in life. He was a true
hero and inspiration. Eerily, I just contacted his site to find May 12th is his birthday, and I missed it by only a half an hour. There has been no peer since Tom's departure. I will "Fix a colortini and watch the pictures as they fly through the air". What a pithy saying from a
most down-to-earth, urbane gantleman. God Bless you, Tom, on earth and in Heaven when the Lord calls you home.
6 - gerr
tom was the best
7 - gger
remember billy preston appearing with tom - will it go round in circles
8 - Bearz
Tom is the last of the real newsmen, anchors & hosts who can think for themselves. The truth of the matter is, there aren't any more like him.
He's right people are onto George W.
Tom we miss you. Get well & don't pet the sweaty things & don't sweat the petty things!
Thanks for the memories! Now i'm off to mix up a colortini!
-Bearz
9 - Marc
Wikipedia's reporting Tom lost his battle with leukemia Sunday (7/29) in San Francisco.
10 - voxy
I found your well wishes for tom while searching around. You and I miss all the same people only add the lovely peter jennings to that list, now. I miss him terribly. It seems more than a bit suspicious all these deaths of all these wonderful voices at the same year, almost.
I'm sorry to hear of Tom. Thanks for writing about him !
11 - BIE
Tom Snyder was a leading ambassador of the railfan hobby to the world of celebrity and the media. His Tomorrow show special which reenacted the run of the CNJ Blue Comet using Ex. FEC 4-6-2 #148 in December, 1975 was one of the finest railfan moments on network television. So Long, Tom.
12 - paul
i'm saving a pdf of this page so that when I think of now and then i know i can retrieve this and 'hear' him speak a bit... i love how you described him in the opening paragraph... a totally classy smart 'real' old school guy/reporter too. thank you.