ABOUT allDAY

allDAY is the official TODAY blog, your virtual window to Studio 1A and the people who make America's favorite morning show come alive. Whether it's exchanging views with the anchors and contributors or going behind the scenes with the producers, editors, camera people and more, we'll bring you the buzz here at 30 Rock, and we hope you will make this a regular part of your online routine. We want this to be a conversation, so please respond with your comments and questions directly to the blog, and we'll do our best to post what you have to say.



Live from Studio 1A: Giada Shares

Posted: Thursday, March 29, 2007 9:13 AM by Elizabeth Neumann
Filed Under:

 

Over the past few weeks I have been working with producer Jennie Thompson gathering elements for some pieces we have done with Giada de Laurentiis - one of our contributors who has been co-hosting our 9:00 hour with Natalie Morales this week.  Today we aired a spot on Giada's brother, Dino, who passed away from skin cancer when he was thirty years old. WATCH VIDEO

I went on the shoot when Jennie interviewed Giada about her brother, and it was incredibly sad to hear her tell the story of his diagnosis and rapid decline through treatments until his eventual death.  We shot the interview in Jennie's home, with a backdrop set up, to make sure it was both an intimate and comfortable setting for such a difficult conversation. 

I think it's admirable when people in the public eye are able to share their personal stories to raise awareness for different issues, and Giada was incredibly graceful in her telling of this story.  Today was the first time Giada told the story publicly.  There is a sense with celebrities that they have it all together all of the time.  I think it's always compelling to realize that no matter who you are, you will have to face challenges and extreme sorrow in life. 

I also was personally drawn in because melanoma - skin cancer - is not an issue I would normally pay a lot of attention to.  I love the beach, I love the sun and I have to admit, I love when I have a healthy glow from a tan.  It was a strong wake-up call to realize that the "healthy glow" that I crave - as much as I do wear sunscreen and know that the sun's rays are bad- could actually kill me.  Not to sound ignorant, but I never thought about melanoma as a killing cancer.  I also never really thought about it as a cancer affecting young people.

It was a very intense experience having a chance to work on this story with Giada and Jennie, and I hope it helps people realize - as I realized - that melanoma is a very real and deadly problem in our lives.  We can all do more to protect ourselves when out in the sun, and I know I will take this story with me into the summer months. 

 

MAIN PAGE

Email this EMAIL THIS

Comments

This segment aired at a particularly painful time for our family as we buried our beautiful 29-year-old daughter Jaime last week. She had fought a courageous battle against melanoma for 9 years, having been diagnosed when she was 20 and trying every treatment available. She was an avid tanning bed user in her teens, thinking it made her look better. When she died, she was bald from chemo, scarred from multiple surgeries and radiation, in extreme pain, and struggling for each breath -- not quite the picture she was going after with her tanning. I wish she were here to tell you her story, but unfortunately melanoma has robbed us of the light of our lives. My heart breaks for Giada and for all who have lost precious loved ones to this evil disease. Don't let this happen to your family!

Donna Regen, Allen, TX (Sent Thursday, March 29, 2007 9:03 PM)

Hello to you all. I was home today, flu, and saw the Today spot. I immediately tried to reach Giada via their website...finally sent an e-mail to a generic site. This story, I am sure, saved a life. I hope Giada continues the crusade. My friends and I lost a dear friend to melanoma last fall. Her wish was for us to fight by getting out the word. I have been VERY disheartened at the lack of response to any e-mails I have written to media, beauty industry. (Even on the Today show this am, the spot wasn't highlighted.) I hope that the information today, ie that melanoma is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in young women, gets attention. I hope the media picks up on the fact that this is an international health crisis. Thanks to everyone who is on a crusade to educate. Stories are SO powerful.

Linda, Seaattle, WASH (Sent Friday, March 30, 2007 12:06 AM)

Dear Giada, Thank you for taking the time to share your story and helping to increase awareness about this horrible disease. We lost a wonderful, kind and caring son to Melanoma on March 10, 2005 at the age of 27. His story is like so many, a young man in the prime of his life stricken down by an insidious killer that knows no boundaries and yet so preventable if sun safety guidelines are followed. To honor his memory we established a Foundation in his name www.BradsMelanomaFoundation.org and our goal is to raise funds for Melanoma research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. As we all know, there is no effective treatment for metastasized Melanoma and yet we just have not managed to get the attention needed to increase the funding for research. We take comfort in knowing that sharing our story with the community and increasing awareness about Melanoma may help to save other families and young people from facing the situation we did. Please visit our web site for more information and if you would like to become a volunteer please let us know.

Yvonne O'Martin, Coppell, TX (Sent Friday, March 30, 2007 12:37 AM)

Giada, Thank-you so much for sharing your very personal, tragic story of your brother's death due to melanoma. We, too, have lost a neice to melanoma and watched a very beautiful, energetic, loving mom of three tiny children fight desperately to live. She died leaving behind a husband, three children under 6, five devastated siblings and heartbroken parents along with many, many devited friends. Thank goodness, of all cancers, this is one of the avoidable cancers if we begin immediately when a child is tiny to provide protection from the sun. Again, we thank you so much for helping to raise awareness of this cancer and all that can be done to prevent people from getting it. I'm sure I speak for everyone who has been touched by this disease in asking you to continue to be a spokesperson in the quest to educate people on how to prevent melanoma. You reach so many people who admire you and will listen to you. Thank-you so much for sharing such a deeply personal and painful story.

Mary Beth Eagan, Wilbraham, MA (Sent Friday, March 30, 2007 6:49 AM)

After hearing about Giana's Brother, I felt sad. He was too young to leave this world. I recently lost my friend who was 28. I immedately made an appointment for a full body check with my dermatologist. Dr. Steven Comite. He is great. I only got acne treatments from him so far, but I'm 28 years old and now knowing how young Giana's brother was when he passed really scared me. Thanks for sharing your very important story.

Tony Bruce, New York, NY (Sent Friday, March 30, 2007 10:18 AM)

Thank you, Giada! There is so little awareness about this deadly and devastating disease. YOU are making a difference, and that is a wonderful tribute to your brother. I was diagnosed with melanoma last August. We have lost many members in our melanoma support group. Jaime was 29 years old. Heather was 37 when she died on March 2, 2007. The midwife noticed a suspicious mole on her leg during the birth of her 4th child. She died 23 months later. Jan was a mother of 5 ages 9 to 19. Ceri was only 20 years old when melanoma claimed her life on January 14, 2007. I always thought skin cancer had to be HUGE, ugly, and hard to ignore. I didn't know it could be small, have no symptoms, and KILL you. Melanoma incidence is increasing faster than any other cancer. According to statistics found on the American Cancer Society's website (www.cancer.org), the prognosis for someone diagnosed with melanoma is worse, stage for stage, than breast cancer. Melanoma is a virulent and aggressive cancer. It is easily treated in its most early stages. Once it spreads, though, it is often fatal. Unfortunately, there is no cure for melanoma once it has metastasized. Melanoma is one of the cancers that won't respond to conventional chemotherapy. More awareness is needed. Most think "it's only skin cancer" and consider it nothing serious. But I can tell you with absolute certainty, they are DEAD wrong.

Melissa Little, Fort Worth, Texas (Sent Friday, March 30, 2007 12:02 PM)

My very dear friend just died of malignant melanoma at the age of 59. They never found a primary site; she was misdiagnosed as having had breast cancer. She went through hell for over three years with chemo,surgery, radiation and terrible side effects from all the treatment. As some people have mentioned - MM is NOT just from sun exposure. My friend was a fair skinned blonde who avoided the sun at all costs throughout her life. I can only hope and pray that this message gets out to the media and this cancer gets the coverage and the funds it deserves. There is currently NO treatment available that works for every person who gets melanoma. It is hit and miss - and most of the time, treatment is a complete 'miss.'

Jeanne Scheffert, Woodbury, MN (Sent Friday, March 30, 2007 12:08 PM)

My husband died of melanoma 3 1/2 years after being dx with stage 1 no lymph node involvement - mets to the lung and brain. I am still involved with the melanoma community trying to rid us all of this horrific cancer. I had tears of joy and sorrow last fall when Dr. S. Rosenberg at NIH was successful in 2 of 17 melanoma warriors - both stage iv - having them become disease free with a new gene therapy! We shouldn't be satisfied until 17 of 17 have no evidence of disease. We also need to have all medical centers on the same page and give out undated and full information! Thanks for bring a bit of attention to melanoma.

Leni Currie, Birmingham, MI (Sent Friday, March 30, 2007 12:16 PM)



SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.): 

 Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private)

More allDAY

Recent Posts:

Archives:

Categories

Syndicate This Site

Add allDAY to your news reader:
live.com xml
myyahoo msn
bloglines newsgator
google

MSNBC Weblogs

More Links