Movie critic Roger Ebert expects to be back to work at his annual festival for overlooked movies this week. It will be his first public appearance since having cancer surgery last summer -- and while some say his appearance may attract the gossip papers, Ebert says, "So what?"

Ebert, 64, will be seen at the ninth annual Overlooked Film Festival, beginning today at the University of Urbana-Champaign, wearing a gauze bandage around his neck. And his mouth will be seen to droop, he says.

This is all because of Ebert's tracheostomy -- it opens an airway through an incision in his windpipe, rendering him speechless -- that resulted from his June 16 surgery to remove a cancerous growth on his salivary gland and a subsequent July 1 surgery to repair a burst blood vessel close to the same site.

On Tuesday, Ebert shared that his cancer began in his salivary gland but then spread to his lower right jaw. As a result, part of his mandible was removed and two surgeries were necessary to reconstruct the area. Both surgeries were unsuccessful, however, and led to unanticipated bleeding.

"The doctors now plan an approach that does not involve the risk of unplanned bleeding," Ebert, a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, says. "If all goes well, my speech will be restored."

This cancer survivor, who says we spend too much time hiding illness and is proud to be back in the spotlight, has also co-hosted the Ebert & Roeper television show with fellow Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper since 2000. Film critics and filmmakers have been filling in for Ebert during his recovery.

All-Star Cincinnati Reds catcher Ed Bailey -- famous in the 1950s -- died of throat cancer on Friday, six months after he was diagnosed with the disease. He was 75.

Bailey, a five-time All-Star, started his baseball career with the Reds in 1953. He went on to hit 28 home runs for the team in 1956 and then went on to play for the Milwaukee Braves, the Chicago Cubs, and the California Angels. He played in his final game in 1966.

Bailey is survived by his wife, Betty, and four sons, Jack, Jeff, Joe, and Jim Bailey of Knoxville.

Watching the Superbowl yesterday made me think of Brian Piccolo. Brian played for the Chicago Bears from 1965 until 1969. He was diagnosed with embryonal cell carcinoma, it was almost 100% fatal at the time of his diagnosis. Sadly, Brian Piccolo died on June 16, 1970 at the age of twenty six, leaving his wife and three daughters.

Chicago mourned the death of Brian Piccolo and he became a legend when the television movie Brian's Song was released in 1971. I remember the showing of that movie in my grade school years. There wasn't a dry eye in the auditorium.

Bears running back, Gale Sayers uttered these famous words in May 1970, as he accepted the NFL's most Courageous Player award. Sayers told the crowd that they had selected the wrong person for the honor, and would accept it only on Piccolo's behalf. He said " I love Brian Piccolo, and I'd like all of you to love him. When you hit your knees to pray tonight, please ask God to love him, too".

After Piccolo's death, the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund was established, and millions of dollars have been donated to the cause of finding a cure to various forms of the disease. Thanks in part to those funds raised in the Piccolo's name, with early detection and treatment, this disease is now almost completely curable.

There are also a few books you can read about Brian:

Brian Piccolo, A Short Season

Gale Sayers' autobiography I am Third.

Secondhand smoke rears its ugly head once again -- this time in the form of study results revealing high levels of secondhand smoke in the workplace can double the risk of lung cancer for non-smokers.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago looked at results from 22 studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Europe, India, Japan, and China. What they found -- and published in the American Journal of Public Health -- is a lung cancer risk 50 percent higher than normal for non-smokers exposed to smoke on the job for more than 30 years. They also found risk increases with level of exposure.

"We believe that our study provides the strongest evidence to date that smoking in the workplace does present a substantial risk to workers -- and particularly to workers who are working in highly exposed areas such as bar workers or restaurant workers," lead researcher Leslie Stayner said.

Previous evidence for increased lung cancer risk caused by secondhand smoke comes from studies of non-smokers married to smokers.

Secondhand smoke -- also known as passive smoke and environmental tobacco smoke -- is smoke from a cigarette, pipe, or cigar as well as smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers and inhaled by non-smokers. It can cause cancer, respiratory problems, and asthma in non-smokers and is leading to increased efforts by communities to ban or limit smoking in the workplace.

This week in France, bans begin in offices, stores, schools, and hospitals. Come January 2008, cafes and restaurants must also comply with bans. For now, smoking in these areas is permitted in hermetically sealed rooms without any services.

A new year. A new law. Effective today, smokers are banned from lighting up in most public places in Washington DC .

Restaurants, bars, and indoor workplaces are now considered smoke-free in the District. The new law takes full effect today -- January 2, 2007.

More than half of the nation's population now lives in areas where smoking is banned in public places, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.

In 2006 alone, nine statewide bans were adopted by lawmakers. In total, 22 states have passed smoking bans. And 16 states have passed laws banning smoking in bars.

In addition to Washington DC, smoking bans also go into effect today in Bloomington and Normal, Illinois.

Lamar Hunt, the man who owned the Kansas City Chiefs and coined the term Super Bowl, died Wednesday night of complications from prostate cancer. He was 74.

Hunt had been battling cancer for several years. But he learned just before Thanksgiving while hospitalized for a collapsed lung that his cancer had spread.

A founder of the American Football League and driving force behind the AFL-NFL merger, Hunt grew up in Dallas and attended a private boys' prep school where he served as captain of the football team. He loved sports -- and earned the nickname Games -- and went on to play college football. While he didn't excel much as an athlete, he did soar to great heights as an owner and promoter of teams in professional football, basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer, and bowling.

Hunt's achievements are plentiful. He started the first organized effort at a pro tennis tour, helped bring pro soccer to the United States, owned Hunt Sports Group which manages Major League Soccer franchises in Dallas, Kansas City, and Columbus, Ohio, and was the last remaining original owner of the Chicago Bulls basketball franchise,

Inducted into eight halls of fame, Hunt is clearly one accomplished man.

Of his influence in the world in football, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says, "you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody that's made a bigger contribution (to the NFL) than Lamar Hunt."

Hunt is survived by wife Norma, children Lamar Jr., Sharron Munson, Clark, and Daniel; and 13 grandchildren.

While Anaia Bedford, wife of Emmy award winning photographer Ken Bedford, underwent chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer, both Anaia and Ken conducted research and asked many questions of experts. According to what they learned, early detection, a healthy diet, exercise and a strong immune system are the keys to breast cancer survival and that "breast cancer awareness and education among African American and other minority women in general is vital because there is a lack of medical attention due to financial hardships, spousal rejection fears and being so terrified that the disease will take their lives."

Anaia felt that had she been diagnosed earlier, her chances of survival would have been greater. Anaia lost her struggle to survive breast cancer in 2004.

The Anaia Breast Cancer Awareness Program was founded by her family to increase breast cancer awareness and promote early detection in minority communities. As a tribute to Anaia and to educate women about breast cancer, an annual gala is hosted at the Galleria Marchetti in Chicago. This year's keynote speaker was Dancing with the Stars Vivica A. Fox. Governor Rod Blagojevich, Mayor Richard Daley, Angela Winbush, Phil Perry, Glenn Jones, Howard Hewett and jazz Sax Man Ray Silkman also attended the event.

Anaia believed "Knowledge is power, the more you know and understand will reduce many of the fears and myths you hear about breast cancer." Her family and friends are continuing the cause of raising breast cancer awareness Anais felt was important to surviving cancer. To learn more, visit the Anaia Breast Cancer Awareness Program.

There is still time to register, volunteer or donate for the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer which will take place in several cities across the United States -- Los Angeles, New York, Charlotte, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco. This weekend walk that extends over two days and 39 miles will take place as soon as September 2006 in Los Angeles and as late as July 2007 in Denver. This walk, designed to benefit medically underserved women and men -- allowing them treatment they otherwise would not receive -- also funds research teams as they continue their quest for a cure. With Prevention magazine as the national sponsor and other official sponsors such as Reebok, the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer has made quite a mark already. This year's Chicago walk raised a record-breaking $8.2 million and tracked the steps of more than 3,500 participants. There is no better proof than this -- in my opinion -- that walking can make quite a difference.

Makeup artist Lori Ovitz has taken her twenty years of cosmetics experience in making celebrities and top models look beautiful, and written Facing the Mirror with Cancer, a book of tips and techniques to help cancer patients look less tired and create a natural glow at a time when cancer treatments can take a physical toll.

Ovitz began volunteering at University of Chicago hospitals working with cancer patients to teach them how to enhance their personal appearance using makeup. According to Ovitz, "Makeup is a very accessible, inexpensive way to make significant changes to your appearance. The tremendous gratitude that I've received from each patient I've worked with inspired me to write Facing the Mirror with Cancer -- A Guide to Using Makeup to make a Difference."

To publish her book, Ovitz and her husband Bruce, a 35 year cancer survivor, created Belle Press -- named to honor the memory of her grandmother Belle Michel -- so that 50 percent of the profits from the book could go to cancer research.

"Cancer does not have to rob you of self-esteem or beauty. By teaching cancer patients how to apply makeup, I've seen firsthand what an incredible transformation occurs in their appearance and how much better they feel about themselves. I've written this book because I want to reach cancer patients everywhere so they can learn the tricks of my trade," Lori Ovitz states with assurance.

You can order Facing the Mirror with Cancer, a 200-page book featuring step-by-step tips and techniques for dealing with appearance issues during cancer treatment and beyond, here.

The Lesbian Community Cancer Project (LCCP) in Chicago has partnered with Howard Brown Health Center to ensure that everyone in the LGBT community has access to free or sliding scale health services. Howard Brown offers free clinical breast exams, mammograms, and pap smears to all low-income, uninsured women and is one of twenty community health centers in Illinois that participates in an early screening program for breast and cervical cancer.

The Gildas Club in Chicago is now in collaboration with the Lesbian Community Cancer Project and a support group just for the LGBT community. Membership and participation in all activities is free and begins by calling (312) 464-9900. The LGBT Wellness Group and the LGBT Family and Friends Group meets every Thursday night from 6:00pm to 7:30pm at Gilda's Club Chicago located at 537 N. Wells Street.