Alex Trebek accepts the award for outstanding game show host during the 46th annual Daytime Emmy Awards at Pasadena Civic Center on May 6 in California. By Barron H. Lerner Barron H. Lerner, professor of medicine and population health at New York University Langone Health, is the author of “The Good Doctor: A Father, A Son and the Evolution of Medical Ethics.
For centuries famous people went to great lengths to conceal illness. Disclosure, they believed, would both violate their privacy and make them look vulnerable. Presidents — Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson and John F. Kennedy, to name a few — have long hidden diseases, ranging from cancer to stroke to failure of the adrenal glands, in efforts to maintain an image as healthy and capable leaders.
This pattern was exemplified by Lou Gehrig, the durable New York Yankees first baseman who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a severe neurological disorder, in 1939. With Gehrig’s permission, the Mayo Clinic announced his ALS in a news release that was covered on the front page of hundreds of newspapers. But these stories notably omitted any discussion of how the disease was universally fatal, avoiding interviews with neurologists who might have been more forthcoming.
The reality was different, however. Whatever positive effects Bourke-White may have experienced diminished over time, and a second operation in 1961 was unsuccessful. The majority of the public would not have known this, even though Bourke-White kept up an admirable and honest correspondence with many fellow Parkinson’s sufferers before dying in 1971. Why? Because when she became increasingly immobilized by the disease, journalists lost interest.
There were other reasons for this new honesty. Certain celebrities relished the opportunity to educate others even in the face of their impending mortality. Others saw candor as a way to control stories that were certain to generate gossip. For instance, actor Michael J. Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 at the very young age of 29, has been quite frank about the deteriorating course of his disease.
Yet at the same time, Trebek has continued to overemphasize hope. When initially diagnosed, he said he planned “to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease.” “Keep the faith,” he added, “and we’ll win,” even jokingly remarking that he needed to survive at least three years to fulfill his “Jeopardy” contract.
There is no such thing as Celebrity Cancer or Regular People Cancer. Its just Cancer. Hope he is able to beat it.
Luckily, “celebrity illness” is one disease that us commoners don’t have to worry about. Stay strong Trebek.
Trebek is a beacon of class and humanity.
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