Cancer Patients

Shannon McGowan, a cancer survivor who helped launch an international network of centers that provide free emotional support and education for cancer patients and their families, died Nov. 7 at her home in the Northern California community of Point Richmond. She was 61. The Los Angeles native died of lung cancer after overcoming cervical cancer 20 years ago, said her daughter, Liz Behrens.

Caught between traditional notions of doctor-patient relations and the newest wave in medical care management, a dozen cancer patients picketed a Simi Valley health-care group Thursday to protest its decision to cancel the contracts of their cancer specialists. The patients said Family Health Care's move is forcing them to either switch to another medical group to keep their specialists, or say goodbye to doctors they know and trust who are familiar with their cases.

City of Hope Medical Center officials received more than 350 telephone calls Tuesday from cancer patients hoping to take part in an experimental treatment program that involves activating immune system cells with a compound called interleukin-2, which the National Cancer Institute believes holds promise for treating advanced cases.

Clothes are usually the focus of a fashion show, but at "A Walk Among the Stars" at the Disneyland Hotel on Sunday, the models stole the limelight. The show, a benefit for the Cancer Center at St. Jude Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Fullerton, featured 18 amateur models who are patients of the center. Role Models "I love working with the (cancer) survivors. They're so spirited and courageous," said event chairman Sham Angros. "Some are on chemotherapy . . .

If I could change anything about the book, I would put a warning on the cover: Reading This May Be Hazardous To Your Health. --Dr. O. Carl Simonton, co-author of "Getting Well Again," a best seller advocating self-healing therapy for cancer patients President Reagan is buoyant. He grins, he thinks positively and to all the world appears to be shrugging off the most feared disease of our time--cancer.

When John Lyon gives advice to people who call the cancer hot line, he knows what he's talking about. The 30-year-old Kansas City man was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor two years ago. "I normally talk to callers about different brain tumors," he said. "Even though mine is kind of a rare type, I'm very familiar with the other types. I can relate to the treatments and the symptoms."

Seven years after falling victim to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Ukrainian cancer patient Tatiana Belick became a victim again. This time to a thief. Tatiana, 15, who was flown to California from her rural village of Gordenka so doctors could assess the extent of her thyroid cancer, had stepped away from her room at the Good Night Inn in Calabasas when a burglar broke in Friday night, Los Angeles County Sheriff's officials said.

Matti Contopulos is recalling a 3-year-old girl she met in a hospital playroom, who had lost her eyes after two brain cancer surgeries, but was joking about it. "I thought," Contopulos says, "If she can laugh about that, then I'd better be doing something more." Contopulos was already doing a lot as the founder of the Children's Cancer Research Fund (CCRF), a West Los Angeles nonprofit organization that she formed in 1987 to raise money for pediatric cancer research.

What do Emily Litella, Roseanne Roseannadanna and the Wellness Community have in common? All were made famous by the late comic genius Gilda Radner, of course, but that's not the only thing they share. At the Wellness Community, a support organization for cancer patients and their families, laughter is important, just as it was with Radner's classic work on "Saturday Night Live." That's right: cancer and laughter, both in the same sentence.

There's no big prize at the end of Sunday's Catalina Classic 2000, an arm-punishing 32-mile paddleboard race from Catalina Island to Manhattan Beach. And Keith Munemitsu doesn't expect to win--he just wants to finish. He's doing it for a friend. Munemitsu, 33, of Newport Beach, is a one-man fund-raising campaign for the Sarcoma Alliance, founded by his friend of nearly 20 years, Suzanne Leider. Leider has synovial sarcoma, a very rare cancer.