Jennings Death is Freakin’ Them Out

Naush Boghossian writes in the LA Daily News about the wake-up call of ABC’s anchor’s death from lung cancer.

“John Wayne, Bob Marley, Steve McQueen and Peter Jennings. Each man was among the best in his profession, and each, in his own way, epitomized cool. But the mystique was shattered when they each fell victim to lung cancer – a hazard of smoking brought again into the national spotlight by Jennings’ death Sunday.

“It freaked me out,” said Michele Ross, 39, of Chatsworth, when she realized Jennings was just 67 when he died.

You have no idea the hell it takes you to,” said Henley, who now lives in Nevada. “It was surreal. Sometimes I felt like I came out of my body and was looking at myself, saying, How could you let this happen, how could you not have been smarter than them?

“I was scared I was going to die and afraid I wouldn’t.”

“Even if I stop, there’s still a chance that I can get something later down the line. I don’t want to die young, I don’t want to have a terminal illness.

“It definitely opened my eyes. I very much am considering stopping and I’m hoping I didn’t do damage to myself.”

As somebody who experienced lung cancer, Henley said Jennings’ death devastated her.
“How does a man go through the wars and go into war zones and a thing like a cigarette kills him?” Henley said. “I don’t understand it.”