Cancer, Up Close And Personal

CBS Evening News Producer Diane Ronnau Is Back At Work After Battling Pancreatic Cancer For A Year

(CBS)  Like the whirlwind she'd always been, CBS Evening News producer Diane Ronnau blew back into everyone's lives like she'd never been gone, after a year battling one of the deadliest diagnoses imaginable: pancreatic cancer.

"I would say to myself all the time, 'Cancer better be afraid of me because I am ready for the good fight,' and it's true — I was," Ronnau tells CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes.

Of course, she was. She has traveled the world for CBS News, shouldering heavy weapons and sparring with a world champion. A true fighter, she has battled cancer, but not for herself.

"I'm going to beat this for my children," Ronnau says.

Twins Ben and Aiden were just 4 when Diane and her husband, Scott Osterman, learned why she was having pain in her back and abdomen.

"Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, you know what that means, and everything is on the line," says Scott.

Confronting a disease like pancreatic cancer, which has a 10 percent survival rate, Ronnau went to work, like all cancer patients must.

"Find the energy and find the resolve to do as much research as you can to make sure you are getting the best care because that is actually what will put you in the survivor category," Ronnau says.

Lucky to be diagnosed early, Ronnau had surgery to remove part of her pancreas and underwent months of chemotherapy. Still, the cancer spread to her liver.

She went from feeling kicked and then back on top in a day or two. "I feel I desperately wanted to be healthy," Ronnau says.

And she is, thanks to new drugs called Gemzar and 5 FU.

"I'd like to be a walking miracle. I'd like to feel that way, but I don't," Ronnau says. "I feel like a walking producer. I'm happy to do that, that's fine, and that's good enough."

[windw]

In Oct 2005, after a year of doctors looking for the cause of my wife%u2019s abdominal pain she asked and was referred to a major hospital, in Georgia in hopes of finding a diagnosis. The results were a shock%u2026Pancreatic cancer, probably stage 4, incurable and inoperable due to a major artery being involved. If no treatment was done, she had 4-6 months and if chemo and radiation worked possibly 5 years. After starting Chemo and having all the radiation she could have she could hardly get out of bed most days. We arranged for a visit to a nationally known cancer research hospital and got the same diagnosis%u2026incurable and inoperable. The mass was still growing at a slow rate even though she had taked both these drugs. She continued chemo, but we also looked into alternative methods. We found massive amounts of information for natural treatments on the internet and from others who had used these methods with success. Since starting alternative and natural treatments my wife looks great, has most of her energy back, and does anything she wants, including keeping our new grand-daughter every weekday and working in our yard. Her mass stopped growing and now shows signs of shrinking. She no longer has chemo by IV and only takes a small dose orally each day. We thank God each day for her progress.

[spaceygracey]

If anyone can beat cancer, it'd be a network news producer. Watch out cancer!

Dianne: thank you for sharing your story. Please start a blog to keep us posted on your progress.

[rboerner-2009]

My wife was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer with metastasis to the liver. This was in early November, 2006. The hard part is recognizing that things will never be the same, again. Depression plays a big role as an obstacle in her battle.

Internet research also was a huge downer. Almost everything we read was negative. Our doctor told us about a web site with positive stories about pancreatic cancer patients. It helped, a lot.

Another hard thing to accept is that after all these years of knowing about cancer, we are still babes in the woods. When oncologists first put together a protocol of drugs for their patients, at least in my wife's case, they are experimenting to find out whether or not their choice of chemicals will work. They won't know for several months. Then, again in our case, they find out that their choice did not work. Another protocol is therefore chosen.

But the big obstacle of depression gets even bigger after that.

[mvsalbego]

Gemzar also is not a new drug. Unless you consider 10+ years old, new.

[martinab1]

Though 5FU is an old cancer drug, oncologists are using the old drugs to fight different cancers. 5FU has been used for breast cancers in times past. Then its use as directly infused into the liver while the patient carries a small bag around allowing for continuous infusion.

May this lady find success in her fight against this pancreatic cancer, I wish her the best.

[bonzogal1980]

I hope to God she beats this. This miserable disease took my mother. She fought it tooth & nail for 18 months, but the doctors we so unwilling to help her & give her options that she gave up.

I hope she has a doctor more willing to pull for her than my mother did.

[peaceforusa]

I hope she survives this for all of our sake. God bless her and her family.

I can't believe that for as long as we have known about cancer that we still don't have cures for it. I understand that one cure won't be the answer for all the different types of cancer out there, but I am amazed at the length of time it has taken to find any cure at all.

[swdepp]

A small error: while Gemzar is new, 5FU is a VERY old cancer drug, at least 40 years old.