allDAY : Health

Hoda's response to breast cancer faker

Rina Raphael — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:14:00 GMT

On Friday’s show, we reported on a 24-year-old woman who claimed she was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, even going as far as to shave her head and raise $10,000 for treatment costs. It was later revealed she was faking it — just to get some money for a boob job.

After the show, TODAY correspondent Sara Haines caught up with fourth-host and breast cancer survivor Hoda Kotb for her response to the astonishing story. Hoda admitted she was not only shocked, but nauseated by the news.

“The idea that someone would pretend to have [breast cancer] makes you just sick to your stomach,” said Hoda Kotb in a web-only video. “I can’t believe someone would do that." Watch the clip:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

What was your response to the story? Were you also shocked?

Congrats! Natalie and Hoda are triathletes

Sarika Dani — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:10:00 GMT

On Sunday, Natalie and Hoda competed in the “War at the Shore” triathlon in Long Branch, N.J., which consisted of a .4K swim, 9.5-mile bike race, and three-mile run. Natalie finished fifth in her age group, and Hoda surprised herself with her performance – partially thanks to all the great prep work from trainer “Hot Rob.” See them in action here and send in your congratulations!

Video: Natalie, Hoda finish triathlon

Photos courtesy Bob Cowin

Video: Natalie, Hoda finish triathlon

Survivor: Cancer was an ‘odd blessing’

Rina Raphael — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:44:00 GMT

Kathy Brickman, the 66-year-old winner of “Everyone Has a Story,” has a particularly interesting and inspiring tale: she credits breast cancer for “saving her life.” A few years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but when she went in for testing, doctors found something even more alarming – stage-4 lung cancer. No one thought she would live long, but she managed to beat both cancers, and this Thursday, she will celebrate her victory with TODAY.

“Cancer can knock your socks off,” Kathy said, “but once you catch your breath, you realize there is so much hope – you should never let go of that.” Watch video

Learn more about Kathy’s journey by reading her winning essay:

"Everyone has a story" – my goodness! I hear that phrase all the time, because I am a cancer survivor and survivors can all relate to that phrase.

My story began in January 2005, when I was diagnosed with the earliest stage of breast cancer. Easy. Have a lumpectomy, some radiation and be cured. Even so, there's nothing like the word "cancer" to knock your socks off.

My husband and I planned to go to Florida early in February, so my lumpectomy was scheduled later in the month, after our return. I had the usual blood work, an EKG and a chest X-ray during the week before the Sunday we were to leave. The surgeon's office called on Friday to say there was an abnormality in my lung and I needed a cat scan. The CAT scan was done that same day. My oncologist called and said she would push for the results on Saturday because she did not want us to go to Florida with that hanging over our heads. She called again Saturday evening to say we would not be going to Florida and that I needed a biopsy on Monday. Tuesday evening we met with her and learned that I have stage-4 lung cancer. The breast cancer was put on hold. I have always said "God bless the breast cancer." I had no symptoms of lung cancer and would not have found it expect for the breast cancer. Scary. You would think your body would tell you.

It has been over three and a half years and I have beaten the odds so far. In fact, my surgeon told me that when I was diagnosed, no one thought I would live very long, so the breast cancer was a non-issue. But since I fooled them, I had to have a mastectomy this month to take care of the breast cancer. Now I can forget about that little pest.

People I come in contact with tell me that my attitude is terrific. All I know is that although I would never wish cancer on anyone, it has been a sort of an odd blessing for me. The other patients I have met during chemo are the most wonderful people. It's almost like we belong to this private club that no one wants to join. We don't sweat the small stuff anymore. And I realize how this cancer thing isn't just mine, it belongs to my whole family -- my husband, our son and daughter, grandchildren, my sisters and then to my wide circle of friends. I am so fortunate to have such support.

No one is promised tomorrow. We need to fill our days with hugs and lots of laughter.

Tune in to TODAY this Thursday for a musical performance inspired by Kathy's essay.

How one woman stood up to cancer, refused to give up dream of motherhood

Jen Brown — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:03:00 GMT

From Dr. Nancy Snyderman, chief medical editor

TODAY we reintroduced you to a courageous young woman (video) who not only survived cancer twice, but helped change the dialogue of reproductive needs of cancer patients in this country.

I first met Lindsay Beck shortly after she was diagnosed with tongue cancer at the age of 22. She endured surgery and six weeks of radiation, but two years later, the cancer came back. This time, she not only needed more surgery, but radiation and chemotherapy as well. What she soon learned -- but what none of her doctors, myself included, ever told her -- was that the chemotherapy that would destroy the cancer would also most likely leave her infertile.

Lindsay refused to give up her dream of becoming a mother, and set out to preserve her own fertility. She found the answer at Stanford University, one of the few institutions equipped to freeze her unfertilized eggs. Her future secure, she went ahead with the chemotherapy. Today she is cancer-free, and executive director of Fertile Hope, a nonprofit organization she founded in 2001 to address the reproductive needs of cancer patients and survivors.

Shortly after she married her husband Jordan, Lindsay became pregnant, naturally, with her daughter Paisley, now 2. When we caught up with her recently, she had just given birth to her son Walker, who was also conceived naturally.

Since we were only able to show you a brief portion of my conversation with Lindsay on the show, I wanted you to be able to watch more online:

Watch video

Lindsay, now 32, is truly an inspiration. By standing up to her cancer, she changed the course of her own life and she took her doctors, myself included, along for the ride.

The post-divorce mini skirt, and other weight-loss motivators

Dan Fleschner — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:48:00 GMT

(From Stephanie Becker, TODAY producer)

Here's a math problem that never came up in Mr. Gill's Geometry class. If a picture is worth 1000 words and television adds 20 pounds, how many times will I bypass the office candy jar after seeing my butt on a field tape?

That’s kind of the point of an on-going study being done at Stanford University. As Chris Jansing reported this morning (video), Professor Jeremy Bailenson's student, Jesse Fox is running a series of experiments asking the question: If you can see a computer clone of yourself lose weight, would you be more incline to be healthier in real life?

Early results have shown that as a result of the subjects exercising and watching their virtual bodies slim down, they spent more time working out in the next 24 hours than they normally would have done.

Now, before I get all snarky about this study, I have to come clean. I applied to Stanford University. They rejected me. So instead of wearing sweatshirts to class, I wore a parka and big bulky boots to get around during the winters at Indiana University in Bloomington. And I got a fine Hoosier education.

So my lack of a Stanford diploma has nothing to do with this critique: Who needs a virtual goal? Most of us already have some REAL life examples to propel us to lose weight.

For motivation I turn to my favorite skinny-me photo snapped 13 years ago. I was on the divorce diet plan. When my marriage failed, I spent the first week eating big tubs of gooey rice pudding. But once out of the comfort-food phase I just couldn't get up the energy to chew. So I didn't eat for three months. I lost 195 pounds of flab and 175 pounds belonged to my ex.

I look at that photo and feel all "Woman hear me roar, and keep that Snickers bar at bay!" I also motivate myself by trying to get into a post-divorce turquoise mini-skirt. It's still a stretch. I recently tacked it up to my fridge.

When I get dejected, I cheer myself up with the array tabloid photos of celebrity cellulite on my office door. Honestly, if Serena, and Jerry Hall and Jennifer Love Hewitt and Nicole Kidman could all have cottage cheese thighs, what hope do I have? Quick someone get me the turquoise skirt STAT! !

After we finished shooting, I did get sucked into the virtual reality world. I donned the goggles and walked the plank over a scary 40-foot deep pretend pit. I nailed it with no vertigo and then dove in with a 9.7 from the Russian judge. When I looked up, dozens of men were jumping in after me. Like lemmings they were virtually dropping at my feet. Me! Cellulite and all! It was raining men. Gosh, maybe I wish I did go to Stanford.

The Ride

Dan Fleschner — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:00:00 GMT

It was my first time in the back of a police car. I didn't know the seat was going to be made of a sloped and slippery molded plastic that pushed me towards the floor.

Easier to clean up, I was told, when people vomited. I wondered how many times that had happened where I was sitting. Or rather, sweating. It was stifling back there, as the Plexiglas separating me from the officers also cut off the air conditioning on this 80-degree day.

There were, of course, no handles to open anything. Even though I had the peace of mind to know I could get out by just asking, the experience was suffocating and not something I'd want to repeat.

I was with law enforcement officers for a series of reports starting today on women and alcohol.

This was a ride-a-long on a patrol for drunk drivers. It wasn't late night, though, not even dinner time. It was the shift that had become among the busiest for DWI busts: the middle of the afternoon.

In New York's Westchester County, authorities told me they were seeing an increase in the number of women who were drinking and then driving with kids in the car. Often the arrests came during the three to four o'clock hour as moms were making the afternoon carpool run.

It's a touchy subject, women and alcohol. I still get e-mail about a report I filed about a year ago on cocktail playdates. But there was nothing playful or fun about where I was sitting and imagining it was for real.

'The Talk'

Dan Fleschner — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:15:00 GMT

(From Janet Shamlian, NBC News Correspondent)

I'm sitting here thinking about how wrong it is that I'm better able to report a story on how to talk to your kids about sex than talk to my OWN kids about sex. WATCH VIDEO

I have five (kids, that is), and my oldest is 12. Fortunately, as I'm so often reminded, I'm married to an amazing guy. So, my better half (it's an expression) handled the first one.

I fear our second child, my daughter, has picked up more than I'd like from movies and friends. She should have heard it FIRST from me. By the way, did anyone else let their 5th grader watch the season finale of "The Office"? Just wondering.

For even the most confident parents, the talk is tough. I'm lucky to be associated with a school that hand-holds moms and dads through the process, from recommending books to sending emails in advance when "it" will be discussed in class.

Fortunately, I long ago reconciled myself with "no one's perfect." I desire only to explain it more fully than my mom and dad did -- and not as well as my children will do for theirs.

Who is worthy of your organs?

Jen Brown — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:17:00 GMT

From Stephanie Becker, TODAY producer

I think I've been a fairly generous person to my friends. I have given them the usual stuff: birthday gifts, money, books, a ride to the airport, and probably too much unsolicited advice (you get what you pay for). But I'm pretty sure I'd never give a friend an organ from my body. So it’s a good thing I’m not Annamarie Ausnes’ friend.

Sandie Anderson, a Starbucks Barista from Tacoma, Wash., donated one of her kidneys to customer Annamarie Ausnes. The friendship had brewed over the three years that Annamarie's been ordering her daily double-cupped single drip. In that time the 50-something women would chit-chat about kids and grandkids and they realized they had a lot in common. More, apparently, than they'd expected. So, when Annamarie told Sandie her kidneys were failing, Sandy offered to donate one of hers. Turns out she was a match and on March 11 the transplant took place. Annamarie calls Sandie her angel.

It's all making me feel badly about my selfish self. I looked at my barista the other day, the one with the pierced tongue, and I just knew I would never give her a kidney. But that thought made me feel guilty enough to give her a $5 tip for a $1.95 coffee. (I wondered if she would have to share that with her supervisor.)

Only about 1 percent of the 7,000 live kidney transplants last year came from non-family members. We launched a very unscientific online poll asking if our viewers would donate to a non-family member. When the first return came in, it was 100 percent no. That was my vote. (In the end it was about 58 percent no, 42 percent yes.) My reaction is a combination of fear (what if I might need it later), selfishness (it's mine all mine!) and a little bit of altruism about my family's future (what if someone else in my family needs it?).

Three years ago, on Thanksgiving weekend, (coincidentally and/or ironically), my brother-in-law's brother (in law - he's a cop) Michael donated a kidney to his brother Chris. Chris is married to my sister and has had Type 1 diabetes since childhood. The transplanted kidney probably saved Chris' life and now we'll all get to watch Chris watch my 5-year-old nephew (see adorable child to the right) grow up. Michael definitely took that whole "To serve and protect" motto to the extreme.

Most of my friends agree they'd draw the same line I have. Does it mean I have a posse of anti-altruistic acquaintances? Perhaps. But, I'd have to forgo getting tested for a possible donation just to avoid the moral dilemma: once you know you could save someone's life and didn't, could you live with yourself?

When I stopped thinking hypothetically and started thinking, what if I knew a really close friend who would die without a transplant, someone like Anita, my best friend from 9th grade who is a card-carrying genius do-gooder? Or Erin, mother of four cool kids who spends hours cheering me up with hilarious stories of her eclectic family. Or Terri who is my Clara Barton when I'm sick. Or Roselyn who helped me book O.J. Simpson and Jermaine Jackson in the same year. Or the guy who lets me draft behind him on our morning bike ride up the big hill. How close do you have to be to save someone's life?

Fortunately I don't have to make such a decision, so I'm still drawing the line at family. Like a squirrel hoarding acorns, I'm storing my spare body parts for a relative’s needs later.

And if we're all really lucky, later will never happen.

How I lost 162 pounds in 16 months

Jen Brown — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 12:00:00 GMT

Hello, I’m Jodi, a 41-year-old married mother of three.

I had been overweight since the age of 10 and tried numerous diets for 25 years. Losing a few pounds and then gaining those back plus more was a common occurrence. Add those extra pounds up over 25 years and that equals an obese person. I was at the point of believing that it was truly impossible for me to lose even 10 pounds, not to mention a miracle if I ever lost enough weight to reach my goal. When I read a magazine article or watched a television show that featured an individual who lost an enormous amount of weight, I thought that only happens to “other people;” it would never happen to me. I had given up hope.

Jodi, right, had given up hope of losing weight

Then “that” funeral – the one that made me realize that I had to find that hope again because not only was being overweight uncomfortable, it was life threatening, a thought I had avoided for my entire life. At the funeral I witnessed a 17-year-old boy looking into the casket of his mother. She was overweight too. I looked at myself and knew that I was carrying more extra weight on my body than she was. My heart felt fine, but I’m sure hers did too…until it was too late. Then I thought of my three children having to be in the same situation as her son. I realized a change had to be made, and soon.

You've got to believe
First, I learned to believe in myself and know I would succeed. I decided to change my lifestyle, as I knew diets just didn’t work for me. Instead of following any written plans, I decided to simply eat healthier by consuming good foods I could buy at the local store. I listened to my conscience instead of trying to ignore it like I had done in the past. It sounds simple but why should it be complex? Complex doesn’t equal success, as I had found through the years. Three healthy meals a day, keeping the calorie content around 350 per meal worked for me.

I needed to find my biggest weakness since that was a big contributing factor to my extra weight. Eating before bed was my biggest weakness, and I knew that if I did not allow myself something at that time, this lifestyle change wouldn’t last longer than a week or two. I craved salty items so I found that a bag of low-fat microwave popcorn or a small bowl of low-fat pretzels curbed my cravings. Yes, carrot sticks or celery would’ve been a healthier choice, but I’ve “been there, done that” before. For me, they were very boring, which resulted in unhealthy spur-of-the-moment food choices after a week or so.

A plan fit for me
This was a lifestyle change so it had to fit my life. Allowing myself to occasionally go to fast food restaurants and have cake/ice cream at birthday parties were other factors that contributed to my success. When my children and I visited a fast food restaurant I knew what items I could consume: a small burger plus a few fries (a few tastes the same as 20!). At their birthday parties I had the smallest piece of cake. If I would have never allowed myself to do this, I would have focused on not being able to have it, felt sorry for myself and splurged when no one was watching.

I also drank more water and enjoyed a couple cups of coffee in the morning, and still do. Green tea, hot or cold, with artificial sweetener and lemon is also a favorite beverage of mine.
One thing I need to mention is that I didn’t weigh myself often. Losing 2 to 3 pounds a week was a healthy loss, so if I weighed myself every day would I see any measurable results? Not really, maybe a few ouncesPlus, when I did weigh myself every three months or so, I saw a 30-pound weight loss. That was very measurable!

I realized that I needed to burn the fat off with some form of exercise (a word I hated!). But I couldn’t spend money on fancy equipment and didn’t want to join a gym. (Wearing spandex at size 24 is NOT what I wanted!) So I decided to walk. I didn’t want to walk too far because then I might dread doing it, so I kept the route short at 1.5 miles. Walking briskly while imagining my house was on fire with my children inside and having to get to them is what kept up my pace. I did this every day, NO EXCUSES! If it was raining, I used an umbrella. If it was cold, I wore a coat. If I was too tired, I simply relaxed when I was finished.

Success!
My prize was my 162-pound weight loss! Going from a size 24 to a size 6 is worth millions to me! In fact, I can’t think of one item I could purchase that would give me as much happiness as being thin!

Jodi with her father this summer

I’m real, a real person who was overweight for 25 years and lost 162 pounds in 16 months by eating healthy foods, walking once each day and believing in herself! It’s do-able! I did it and so can you!

Locks of Love gives teen chance to be herself

Jen Brown — Thu, 24 May 2007 12:12:00 GMT

(From Samantha Vallejera)

Samantha Vallejera joined us this morning to share her experience of living with alopecia areata, an autoimmune skin disease resulting in the loss of hair, and how Locks of Love has changed her life. Here, Samantha, 15, speaks in her own words...

When I first lost my hair 6 years ago, other kids would tease or bully me because I was different and it really hurt me. I think that when we were little, kids judged people by their appearances. We don't realize that even though my appearance is different, I was still the same person I always was. I lost my confidence and self esteem. When I got my hair prosthesis from Locks of Love, it really changed my feelings and I was able to regain my confidence and self esteem. Now that I am in high school, I don't want what happened to me in the elementary school. I am older now and know that I'm the same person. I would like to be judged for who I am. I am very grateful and thankful to Locks of Love for their awesome services rendered to teenagers like me.

When we first got the call from Madonna, the president of Locks of Love, for me to be on The Today Show, I was really excited. I was just thinking "Oh my god! I'm going to be on TV!" My experience at the NBC studio was a once in a lifetime, memorable experience. In the beginning I really didn't know what to expect. I was just so excited and anxious about what I was going to say and do. But once we started taping, I relaxed and I felt more confident. And now I really can't wait for Thursday, when I'll be on live television. That's another experience I'm really looking forward to. I just want to go through with it. I think it's a once in a lifetime opportunity that I'll never be able to have again, a chance to show people who I am and gain confidence despite my condition.