EarthLink President and CEO Garry Betty was diagnosed just days ago with a serious form of cancer, and he will take a medical leave of absence in order to tackle the disease head on.

“Garry is a fierce competitor and has the determination to beat this disease,” said EarthLink founder Sky Dayton.

Betty, at one time the New York Stock Exchange’s youngest listed CEO, joined the EarthLink team in 1996 and has earned tremendous respect and recognition among the Internet, financial, and business communities. He is now earning support as he takes on his newest challenge — cancer.

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North Carolina State Director of Athletics Lee Fowler and Head Women’s Basketball Coach Kay Yow announced jointly that Yow will be taking a leave of absence from her coaching duties for an indefinite period of time.

Associate head coach Stephanie Glance will serve as interim coach, Yow and athletic director Lee Fowler said in a news release.

Yow is battling breast cancer and doctors recently found it was progressing. That means she’ll have to undergo chemotherapy and targeted biologic therapies.

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Farrah Fawcett has been battling anal cancer for six weeks now and is two-thirds of the way through an intensive six-week regimen of chemotherapy and radiation.

Fawcett, 59, has been enduring radiation therapy five days per week since October 13 and is taking the side effects — fatigue, nausea, sleeplessness, and pain — in stride. Fortunately, she has a strong support network that includes Ryan O’Neal, her son Redmond, her father James, and most recently — Charlie’s Angels.

On November 1, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson joined Fawcett at her Beverly Hills condominium and did what they say they’ve been doing ever since finding fame and friendship on Charlie’s Angels 30 years ago. They talked and laughed and gossiped and ate. Just like old times.

Doctors say Fawcett is responding well to treatment as she charges forward. With a little help from her friends — and angels

Belinda Emmett, wife of television personality Rove McManus, has died after a long battle with cancer.

Australia’s beautiful actress Belinda Emmett was surrounded by family and friends yesterday morning when she lost her eight-year battle with cancer at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital.

“It is with great sadness we advise that Belinda Emmett’s battle with cancer has ended,” Emmett’s family said in a statement.

Emmett grew up on NSW’s Central Coast and got her acting break when she appeared on popular long-running soap Home and Away, playing Rebecca Fisher, between 1996 and 1999. Emmett was only 24 years old in 1998 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was considered Australia’s sweetheart and one of the most popular stars of Home and Away.

The Australian actress successfully underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumor, followed by six weeks of radiotherapy.

In 2001 the cancer returned and Belinda was diagnosed with bone metastasis. She spent the next five years seeking alternate therapies and using her celebrity to increase cancer awareness. She married Rove McManus, one of Australia’s most popular television personalities, in January of 2005.

Her last public appearance was on September 20 at Channel Seven’s 50 years of television celebration, where as always, and despite her obvious frailty, her smile lit the room. “Our deepest sympathy is extended to Belinda’s family who have supported her through this illness,” Seven Channel Network said in a statement.

Belinda Emmett had great acting ability and her warmth, her smile and her spirits will be truly remembered.

BIG BROTHER’S star Jade Goody said she is anxiously facing a three-week wait to find out if she has bowel cancer.

Mum of two boys, Jade said: “I am worried about bowel cancer but I have to wait three weeks for the test results. I’m young so, hopefully, everything will be OK. But it is worrying.” Jade said she became worried when she suffered crippling pains and saw blood in the toilet.

Jade, 25, said she was going to carry on as normal and was looking forward to taking her little boys, Bobby, aged three, and Freddy, aged two, to a fireworks display on bonfire night.

The star had a series of tests at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow. Jade will now have to wait three weeks before the test results can be confirmed.

Jade has a history of health scares.

She collapsed with stomach pains last year at her beauty salon – Ugly’s. And she was rushed to hospital with an ovarian cyst in 2004 while appearing on TV show Back To Reality.

The ditzy celebrity who is believed to have earned £3.5 million since she was the tenth evictee from the third series of channel four’s Big Brother recently launched her own perfume and runs her own beauty salon, Ugly’s.

We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed…

In a message on his website, former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh has announced that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Lesh revealed that he will undergo surgery in early December to have the cancer removed.

“Since we’ve caught it very early, and it’s small and slow-growing, I fully expect to have a rapid and complete recovery,” he stated.

The 66-year-old, who plays with his band Phil Lesh and Friends, was a founding member of the Grateful Dead. He was the band’s bassist for 30 years before they disbanded in 1995 due to the death of frontman and guitarist Jerry Garcia.

Dr. Harry Neuwirth is an oncologist at Sutter Marin General Hospital. He says the prostate is a gland that produces semen. As men get older, especially past 50, the prostate can become a cancer magnet. He urges annual blood tests beginning at 50, and at 40 for men with a family history of the disease.
“Patients with localized prostate cancer have a lot of excellent options now,” Dr. Neuwirth said. “With PSA screening, about three quarters of the patients are curable.

In the statement, Lesh said all his scheduled appearances will remain intact. He also sent a message to everyone: “Speak to your doctor about having periodic regular PSA screening for early detection of prostate cancer—you may save your own life.” He added that he’s grateful to be alive. “The message is, be tested,” Lesh said.

‘America’s Sweetheart’ Julia Roberts has been alarmed ever since a mysterious mole showed up on the side of her right breast during a recent photo shoot.

photographers spotted the blemish as they snapped the Pretty Woman star at a Hollywood tribute to George Clooney and now cancer experts are calling for the actress to get screened.

After seeing photos of the actress’ mole Dr Christine Horner, a cancer expert and plastic surgeon in Taos, New Mexico, where Roberts has a home, told US tabloid the Globe that it would be better to remove the mole.

“I would definitely remove the mole. It is raised, pigmented and greater than a centimeter, which statistically increases the risk of it converting to malignancy,¡± he was quoted by Contactmusic, as saying.

But Beverly Hills dermatologist Dr David Stoll insists the blemish looks as if Roberts has already had a growth removed.

“It looks like a scar from the removal of a growth,” he added.

On October 23, seven-time Tour de France winner and testicular cancer survivor Lance Armstrong, with attend a day-long meeting in Lexington, Kentucky as a member of the President’s Cancer Panel to discuss the promotion of healthy lifestyles in reducing cancer risks. The President’s Cancer Panel was created by the National Cancer Act over thirty years ago to monitor and evaluate all aspects of the National Cancer Program. The Panel identifies and conducts inquiry into concerns and emerging issues in cancer-related science and cancer care. Members of the Panel include Armstrong; Dr. LaSalle Leffall; Margaret L. Kripke, Ph.D.; and Abby B. Sandler, Ph.D.

Dr. LaSalle Leffall is the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery, Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC, and Chairman of the Board of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Margaret L. Kripke, Ph.D., is Professor of Immunology and Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Abby B. Sandler, Ph.D., Chief, Institute Review Office (IRO), National Cancer Institute (NCI), became Executive Secretary of the President’s Cancer Panel in January of 2005.

The meeting in Kentucky will focus on recommendations related to tobacco and exposure to indoor smoke. Researchers and experts will attend the meeting to join the discussions.

The award-winning newsman died Tuesday of liver cancer in Norwalk Hospital less than three weeks before his induction into the Radio Hall of Fame. Glenn retired in February after 35 years with CBS.It was Glenn who anchored the January 28th, 1986, launch of the doomed shuttle Challenger and delivered an anguished commentary as the spacecraft exploded shortly after lift off. “This flight, which was to have been such a bright chapter in the history of the manned space flight program, turned in the flash of an instant into a terrible, terrible tragedy.”

There are some things that happen in life where we can recall exactly where we were when it happened and heard of the tragedy. On the day the shuttle Challenger exploded I was in my tenth grade class watching it on television. The twentieth anniversary of the shuttle explosion brought back this memory and so did today when reading of Christopher Glenn’s death.

Christopher Glenn also was the distinctive voice to those who remember the Emmy-award winning “In the News.” The two and a half minute feature on one topic was broadcast every half hour during Saturday children’s programming on CBS. It debuted in September 1971 and ran for 5,000 episodes over thirteen seasons. He also was the anchor for CBS “World News Roundup” in 1999 after spending eleven years in a similar capacity for “The World Tonight.”

Glenn explained why he loved radio. “You don’t just sit there and stare at the pictures. You have to tell them the story and make them understand, and I think that that’s much more of a challenge for a journalist and makes it much more interesting in the long run.”

Christopher is survived by his wife, Dianne, two daughters and a sister.

Olympic Gold Medallist figure skater and breast cancer survivor Peggy Fleming spoke at a Surviving and Thriving luncheon sharing her breast cancer experience. Fleming told the audience of breast cancer survivors attending the luncheon that the breast cancer diagnosis was a shock considering her identity as an athlete was based on health.

After the shock wore off, she gathered her inner resources and faced breast cancer with the same skills that had taken her to the heights of athletic excellence and accomplishment.

Fleming took on breast cancer as a competition she was intent on winning. “Cancer doesn’t care who you are or how well you take care of yourself,” she said. “It just happens.”

As an eight-year breast cancer survivor, Fleming currently works as an ice skating commentator on ABC and ESPN. She tells her story as a way to inspire and enlighten other women facing a breast cancer diagnosis and breast cancer survivors living beyond breast cancer.