TUNE IN to the Bonnie Hunt Show TODAY! January 05

Academy Award winning actress Kathy Bates is on the Bonnie Hunt Show (www.bonniehunt.com) TODAY - Monday, January 05, 2009 - and is talking about her experience with ovarian cancer and sharing her inspiring story. To see when the show airs in your community, click here.

A few months ago, the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCNA) had the opportunity to sit down with Ms. Bates to listen as she told the tale -- for the first time publicly -- of her personal fight with ovarian cancer. The interview was very personal and in-depth and shares insights about how she was diagnosed with the disease. Additionally, Ms. Bates filmed a 30-second TV Public Service Announcement (PSA) about ovarian cancer and its symptoms, which launched in NYC Taxi Cabs during September, National Ovarian Cancer Awareness month, and is running on TV networks nationwide.

"OCNA recognizes the personal strength it took Kathy to talk publicly about her run-in with cancer," says Karen Orloff Kaplan, Chief Executive Officer of OCNA. "We appreciate her willingness to share her story and be an advocate for the organization in its mission to educate women across the country about ovarian cancer."

To view the OCNA Kathy Bates 5-minute interview clip and 30-second TV PSA, click here.

"As an ovarian cancer survivor, I have decided to join forces with the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance by sharing my story and helping educate women about one of the deadliest cancers affecting women today." -- Kathy Bates

Raising awareness about ovarian cancer on a national and local level is essential because diagnosing the disease is difficult. The number of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in its early stages is so small that the survival rates continue to be low. In more than 30 years since the War on Cancer was declared, ovarian cancer mortality rates have not significantly improved. About 20,000 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2008 and 15,000 women died from the disease.

By Fireball
Posted January 5, 2009 at 8:13 pm
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Did anyone catch the show? I meant to DVR it but was busy. I never heard of ovarian cancer until I got it.
The word needs to get out there.

By llj
Posted January 5, 2009 at 8:19 pm
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Here's just one of the numerous websites I found about Kathy Bates:

To view the OCNA Kathy Bates 5-minute interview clip and 30-second TV PSA, visit http://www.youtube.com/user/ovariancancerorg

By gg1
Posted January 6, 2009 at 10:51 am
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I agree, I think the ca125 should be a scheduled yearly test like a mammogram or colonoscopy. I didn't see the show either, by the time I posted and looked up the air time in my locale it was over. I'd appreciate if anyone did catch the show please tell us about it. Thanks.

By FavoriteAunt
Posted January 6, 2009 at 11:01 am
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I did see the show. Kathie Bates did talk about ovca a little, but I thought she could have been more forceful and emphatic in what she said. It was rather low key, mentioning that she was shocked at the diagnosis, got treatment and that she was very lucky. She did not go into detail, but did mention there is no early test for this. They recommended going to the Bonnie Hunt website for a link to click on.

I'm happy she said something, but think the opportunity was kind of wasted in that they did not stress the desperate need for an early test, the low survival rate and the need to be very aware of the symptoms (which were never mentioned). Just my opinion. But at least she got the subject out there for others to think about.

By gg1
Posted January 6, 2009 at 11:42 am
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Thank you for posting. Kathie Bates is high profile and could do alot for our cause. At least it was on a talk show, I keep telling Oprah she is our best hope. The evening news in my area had a study from NYU on ovarian cancer last night. Baby steps but steps forward! Yeah!

Welcome to Inspire!

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