Power of prayer helps cancer survivor
Published: July 9, 2007
I have known Carl Day for over a dozen years. In 1996, Carl and I were part of a delegation that traveled to Bosnia with Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor, on a mission to cement relationships and develop trade opportunities.
The delegation flew on the Air Force plane that is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Carl brought Bosnia back to the living rooms of people at home through his reports.
Carl has been a broadcaster and journalist for 50 years now. His list of accomplishments and awards is impressive, to say the least.
Carl is a Broadcast Hall of Fame inductee and seven-time Emmy award winner (who has just been nominated for another Emmy). Yet, this is not what makes Carl Day’s story so extraordinary.
Carl Day has waged a very public, ten-plus year battle with cancer and leukemia. His bravery has been exemplary as he has fought three bouts of leukemia into remission.
Each time he has shared his therapy with his television audience. I asked Carl if it was a difficult decision to make his personal life public.
“When you’ve been coming into people’s living rooms for as long as I have, you’re part of their family. You share things like this with your family. Besides, as I went through chemotherapy and lost my hair, it was going to be pretty obvious,” Carl told me with a smile.
This past week, Carl was in Washington, D.C. working with Lance Armstrong’s Foundation, LIVESTRONG. Armstrong and Day have several similarities: While Day has won seven Emmys; Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times. Both are also cancer survivors. And both are known for their sunny, optimistic personalities.
Carl talks about the power of prayer and the tight-knit nature of our community when he discusses people of all religious faiths who called him and offered to pray for him. He always told those who offered prayer that he would appreciate their prayers, but asked them to pray for all people whose lives had been distressed by cancer. He believes their prayers helped sustain him in difficult times.
As a cancer survivor, Carl gives back to the community, too.
He takes time on a nearly daily basis to speak with cancer patients. He answers their questions and helps give them the encouragement they need to become a cancer survivor. He welcomes anybody facing this health crisis to contact him.
Carl joined Lance Armstrong and about 200 other LIVESTRONG team advocates from across the nation. Carl talked about the diverse range of people and experiences on the LIVESTONG team.
According to information provided by the Lance Armstrong Foundation, its mission is as follows: “The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) inspires and empowers people affected by cancer. We help people with cancer focus on living; we believe unity is strength, knowledge is power and attitude is everything. From the moment of diagnosis the LAF provides the practical information and tools people with cancer need to live life on their own terms.”
More information about LIVESTRONG and the Lance Armstrong Foundation can be found at www.livestrong.org.
Carl Day’s faith, positive attitude, and determination continue to serve as an inspiration for the people of Dayton and across the state of Ohio.
Now into his 50th year as a broadcaster and journalist, Carl, pondering the future, remarked: “I wonder what I’m going to do when I grow up?”
–Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, represents Ohio’s Third Congressional District.
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