Betty Rollin
In 1975, after completing a story on the breast cancer of former First Lady Betty Ford, Betty Rollin herself was diagnosed with the disease. A year after her surgery, she published a memoir about the experience entitled, "First, You Cry," a candid, moving account that thrust Rollin into the national spotlight.
The book, along with the television movie version starring Mary Tyler Moore, inspired a new openness about breast cancer that, in part, spawned today's breast cancer awareness movement. Now considered a modern classic, "First, You Cry" continues to be the definitive book on breast cancer. Its October 2000 release in paperback marked Rollin's 25th anniversary as a cancer survivor, honored National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and invited a new generation of women into the public dialogue. Today, Rollin is as eager as ever to participate in the discussion, through interviews, articles, and public appearances.
Rollin is the author of five other books, including her landmark best-seller, "Last Wish," the chronicle of her mother's assisted suicide. First published in 1986 and re-issued in 1998, one critic called it "a document of personal compassion and public importance." "Last Wish" has also been published in 18 foreign countries and was made into a television movie starring Patty Duke and Maureen Stapleton.
Currently, Rollin is a contributing correspondent for "NBC News" and for PBS' "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly." She has been awarded both duPont and Emmy awards. Prior to joining "NBC News," Rollin was an associate features editor at "Vogue," and a senior editor and writer for "Look" Magazine. She has contributed to many national publications, including "The New York Times," where she was a "Hers" columnist. Rollin first joined NBC in 1971 as a reporter for an on-air newsmagazine, and during 1972, was the on-air critic for WNBC-TV in New York. She later created and anchored an NBC News series entitled "Women Like Us." In January of 1973, she was named a correspondent for NBC News and reported on human-interest stories, which remains her focus today.
MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
The Bright Side of Breast Cancer
A factual, funny and uplifting talk about what Ms. Rollin has learned from the experience of having cancer and about progress that has been made to treat the disease.
Making the Best of the Worst
Turning life's disasters around (including illness)
We'd of course prefer that awful things didn't happen to us, but when they do, there are ways to turn them around.
What Patients Want
(a talk designed for physicians, medical students, and nurses)
What we patients want in terms of care, compassion, and manners! If the news is bad, how we like it delivered.
Death and Dying
End of life decisions. Should physician-assisted suicide be an option?
In 1975, after completing a story on the breast cancer of former First Lady Betty Ford, Betty Rollin herself was diagnosed with the disease. A year after her surgery, she published a memoir about the experience entitled, "First, You Cry," a candid, moving account that thrust Rollin into the national spotlight.
The book, along with the television movie version starring Mary Tyler Moore, inspired a new openness about breast cancer that, in part, spawned today's breast cancer awareness movement. Now considered a modern classic, "First, You Cry" continues to be the definitive book on breast cancer. Its October 2000 release in paperback marked Rollin's 25th anniversary as a cancer survivor, honored National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and invited a new generation of women into the public dialogue. Today, Rollin is as eager as ever to participate in the discussion, through interviews, articles, and public appearances.
Rollin is the author of five other books, including her landmark best-seller, "Last Wish," the chronicle of her mother's assisted suicide. First published in 1986 and re-issued in 1998, one critic called it "a document of personal compassion and public importance." "Last Wish" has also been published in 18 foreign countries and was made into a television movie starring Patty Duke and Maureen Stapleton.
Currently, Rollin is a contributing correspondent for "NBC News" and for PBS' "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly." She has been awarded both duPont and Emmy awards. Prior to joining "NBC News," Rollin was an associate features editor at "Vogue," and a senior editor and writer for "Look" Magazine. She has contributed to many national publications, including "The New York Times," where she was a "Hers" columnist. Rollin first joined NBC in 1971 as a reporter for an on-air newsmagazine, and during 1972, was the on-air critic for WNBC-TV in New York. She later created and anchored an NBC News series entitled "Women Like Us." In January of 1973, she was named a correspondent for NBC News and reported on human-interest stories, which remains her focus today.
MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
The Bright Side of Breast Cancer
A factual, funny and uplifting talk about what Ms. Rollin has learned from the experience of having cancer and about progress that has been made to treat the disease.
Making the Best of the Worst
Turning life's disasters around (including illness)
We'd of course prefer that awful things didn't happen to us, but when they do, there are ways to turn them around.
What Patients Want
(a talk designed for physicians, medical students, and nurses)
What we patients want in terms of care, compassion, and manners! If the news is bad, how we like it delivered.
Death and Dying
End of life decisions. Should physician-assisted suicide be an option?
