Nov 9, 2006 8:08 pm US/Pacific
Ed Bradley Among 22,000 To Die From Leukemia In US
by Kim Mulvihill, M.D.
(CBS 5)
Leukemia is the most common form of blood cancer. The disease that on Thursday claimed the life of veteran CBS News correspondent Ed Bradley will also kill an estimated 22,000 Americans this year alone.
Just a few people knew how sick Ed Bradley was. Even fellow CBS News veteran Mike Wallace did not know Bradley had leukemia. But if you watched Bradley's last story carefully, you might have seen some clues.
On the "60 Minutes" program from Oct. 29, 2006, Bradley was not seen introducing his story as correspondents traditionally do.
"For the first time ever, Ed did not do the introduction. Leslie Stahl did it for him. He wasn't physically able to do it," said CBS News President Sean McManus. "He probably wasn't able to do the voiceover, but he insisted on doing it and did it."
Stahl said Bradley's cancer had been in remission but recently returned with a vengeance.
"We all know over the past years, Ed had serious health problems. Never talked about it. Never complained about it. He showed up at work, when he was physically able to, to get the story done. The last thing he would have wanted me to do is talk about his illnesses," McManus said.
Nearly 210,000 Americans have leukemia.
The disease starts in the soft inner part of the bone -- what's called the bone marrow. As the cancer cells multiply, they crowd out normal bone marrow cells so patients don't have enough properly functioning blood cells. That leads to anemia, infections, easy bleeding, and bruising.
Leukemia is treated with chemotherapy. The goal of treatment is to kill all of the cancer cells. But some cells can be hidden and over time lead to a relapse. In hopes of achieving another remission, doctors may use chemotherapy again, and perhaps even a stem cell transplant.
But only one in two patients are alive five years later.
While leukemia is the leading cancer among children, this cancer strikes 10 times as many adults. In fact, leukemia is most common after age 60 and strikes more men than women.
Anyone can get the disease, but chronic exposure to the chemical benzene, or exposure to very high doses of irradiation may be causes of leukemia. Smoking can increase the risk of some forms of the disease.
However, experts say most patients have no risk factors at all.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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