ESPN anchor Stuart Scott died Sunday morning at the age of 49 after an eight-year battle with cancer. He was, in many ways, bigger than ESPN itself: he was one of the network’s most popular personalities, and his unique booyah catchphrases inspired a generation of broadcasters.
So it’s no surprise that his approach to cancer – punctuated by a stirring speech at an ESPN broadcast last July – has become inspiring as well.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
With his passing, Scott has become, quite quickly, the face of one of two dominant personas when it comes to cancer patients. He is the fighter. It’s a persona roughly half of cancer patients embrace in some way.
“I listened to what Jim Valvano said 21 years ago, the most poignant seven words ever uttered in any speech anywhere: ‘Don’t give up. Never give up,'” Scott said. “I’m not special; I just listen to what the man said. I listen to all that he said, everything that he asked of us.
“I can’t ever give up because I can’t leave my daughters,” Scott also said that night in July.
Scott likely has supplanted Valvano, a college basketball coach who also fought but eventually succumbed to cancer, as one of the more popular fighters against cancer. Scott’s immediate impact is obvious. Rich Eisen, an ex-colleague of Scott’s at ESPN, stated during an emotional broadcast: “He battled cancer as bravely as anybody else, and I know there many people out there who are battling cancer right now. Stuart would want you to know to keep fighting.”
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
But it should be said this is but one approach to dealing with cancer – and, in particular, end-stage cancer. (It isn’t entirely clear how long Scott was in this phase of the disease.) In someways, the fight-at-all-costs approach puts unrealistic pressure on those end-stage cancer patients who want to avoid the costs and side-effects for what is a tragic but almost unavoidable end.
As the Boston Globe mentioned back in July, a Dana-Farber Cancer Institute study published in March showed that the more than half of cancer patients who opt for chemotherapy were more likely to die in a hospital intensive care unit as opposed to at home with their families.
“There’s a subtle dance that happens between oncologist and patient,” study leader Dr. Alexi Wright, an assistant professor of medicine at Dana-Farber, said, “where doctors don’t want to broach the subject of dying, especially in younger patients, because it makes those patients think we’re giving up on them.”
Is the fighter really the ideal persona for a cancer patient? Scott, while clearly being celebrated for persevering during the many years of cancer he endured, acknowledge himself that cancer isn’t really about fighting.
“When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer,” he said. “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.”
Victory for a cancer patient is living life as best you can on your own terms – no matter the choices. We in a healthcare should remember that. Perhaps, in the long-term, that’s how Scott will be remembered.
