New PBS Documentary on Living With Cancer Stresses Hope, Treatment Advances, and Survival

A new, 1-hour television documentary features conversations with some of the nearly 10 million American cancer survivors. Narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Anne Bancroft and filmed at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota, this telecast recounts the experiences of those who have been diagnosed with cancer, undergone treatment, and now live full and healthy lives.

Living With Cancer: A Message of Hope debuts nationally on PBS, Friday, September 25 at 9 pm. (Viewers should check local listings.) The show is being broadcast on the eve of "The March . . . Coming Together To Conquer Cancer," a major national awareness march associated with the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, taking place in Washington, DC, on Saturday, September 26.

"A cancer diagnosis shakes you to your core--but it doesn’t have to be a death sentence," said Fred Silverman, producer, director, and, with Howard Sharp, co-writer of the film. "Our documentary reveals remarkable new advances in treatment and a world of optimism and realistic hope for cancer patients.’’

Insights From Experts

The program follows the experiences of patients and medical professionals as they work together to cope with and, hopefully, arrest the disease. In addition, leading cancer experts, including Franklyn Prendergast, MD, PhD, Director of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, share new research and insights on treatment, and provide an overview of causes and preventive steps to lower the risk of developing one of the more than 150 diseases that are now classified as cancer.

"What amazed me, working on this film, was how when faced with cancer, each person automatically became focused on what he or she most valued," Silverman commented. "In each case, it was a pretty short list."

Living With Cancer: A Message of Hope is a production of Silverman Communications, Inc, and is being presented on PBS by KTCA-TV, St. Paul-Minneapolis.