Fred Thompson, actor and former United States Senator from Tennessee, made the announcement today that he was diagnosed with lymphoma a few years ago and now is in remission.

Thompson added to that announcement that he was considering running in the 2008 Presidential Election. He stated today on Fox News, "I have had no illness from it, or even any symptoms. I am in remission, and it is very treatable with drugs if treatment is needed in the future -- and with no debilitating side effects".

You can find Thompson playing a district attorney Arthur Branch on the NBC drama Law and Order.

She doesn't have breast cancer. But she did have both breasts removed and reconstructed in January to ensure as much as she can that she will never develop the disease that has struck both her mother and father.

It's the dad connection that puts René Syler, former anchorwoman for The Early Show, at such risk for breast cancer. That and the dozens of microcalcifications -- these can indicate cancer -- that repeatedly revealed themselves on mammograms and the diagnosis of atypical ductal hyperplasia that increases the risk of cancer. And while cancer was never diagnosed for this woman who was sure the disease would one day catch up with her, Syler is no stranger to the world of biopsies. And her breasts -- misshapen, shriveled, collapsed, and scarred from so many surgical procedures -- were proof of her frequent rides on the breast cancer merry-go-round.

Now Syler's breasts are gone. And she is breathing a great big sigh of relief. She calls her new "girls" incredible. And she calls her new mood "good."

"I see now that the specter of breast cancer has been permeating my life," says Syler whose story appears in the April 2007 issue of The Oprah Magazine and whose book Good-Enough Mother will be published in April.

"I couldn't really live because I was always playing defense -- watching and waiting, wondering if this would be the year I'd be diagnosed."

It seems screening for lung cancer doesn't save lives and it doesn't prevent advanced disease. But it does lead to potentially unnecessary and harmful treatment.

This isn't the final word on the use of CT scans to screen smokers and former smokers for the disease. But right now, the hope some experts had for the special X-rays to detect tiny lung abnormalities has been diminished by a large study that is still in the works. And until conclusive evidence says the screening is useful, the American Cancer Society will not endorse the test.

While CT screening did increase diagnosis and treatment -- those screened were three times more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer and 10 times more likely to have lung surgery than predicted -- study co-author Dr. Peter Bach of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York says, "We don't see a trace of evidence that a single life was saved, that a single case of advanced cancer was avoided."

And because CT scanning led to more biopsies and surgeries, patients were put at risk for complications such as lung puncture, bleeding, and infection, according to Bach, whose work is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Getting screened for lung cancer with CT scanning is not only unproven, it's potentially a risky endeavor," he said.

Until an effective screening tool emerges -- possibly still years away -- experts say there is one surefire way to protect yourself from lung cancer. Stop smoking.

At the age of 93, former President Gerald R. Ford had become our longest living former president. As the nation mourns the passing of former President Ford, who died Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, he is being remembered as a great healer of the nation in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. At the time he pardoned former President Nixon, he was questioned and criticized for the wisdom of that action. In retrospect, his decision was credited for helping the nation move forward and heal.

Recovered alcoholic and breast cancer survivor Betty Ford is known for being a healer for the people of this nation in her own right. She willingly battled her most private demons and medical challenges openly, breaking the rules by speaking publicly about struggles society deemed private matters best kept quiet and spoken of only in whispers behind closed doors.

"It's hard for anyone born perhaps after 1980 or even in 1970 to understand that these things were not talked about," said Dr. Patricia Ganz, director of the division of cancer prevention and control research at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "They were very stigmatizing. A woman didn't dare to mention to her friends, employer, extended family, that she had breast cancer."

Betty is credited with the successful launch of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation by attending the first luncheon. Nancy G. Brinker, founder of the foundation, has said of Betty Ford, "If she had not come, we would never have been able to launch. I don't think young women today realize the importance of what she did -- she lit the candle in dark rooms all over the world in healthcare and substance abuse and human understanding."

History will record that both former President Gerald R. Ford and former First lady Betty Ford were profound healers, in courage, compassion and wisdom.

Ann Richards was the Governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. She was only the second woman to hold that post. In March of his year she said she was being treated for esophageal cancer. She passed away at the age of 73.

Ann Richards seemed like a spunky lady. When she was nearing sixty she rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle because she said "I thought I needed to do something kind of jazzy." Ann didn't start her political career until she was in her 40's. She won a seat on the Travis County commission in Austin in 1976.

The 1988 Democratic National Convention is when Ann burst onto the scene. At the keynote address she famously described the syntax-challenged Republican presidential nominee, George H.W. Bush, this way: "Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

She eventually was defeated for the re-election of Governor by Bush's son, and future president, George W. Bush. That was the last time she ran for office. She then worked as consultant and commentator and she served on corporate boards.

One quote she liked that she said summed up the aspiration of women in politics: "Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels."

MTV is currently airing another installment of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge reality show. This season -- called Fresh Meat -- pairs former show contestants with individuals who have never before appeared on any MTV reality show. These new contestants -- the fresh meat -- compete with the veterans in tense and strenuous physical and mental challenges for an array of prizes and for a grand award of $250,000. Winning the money could be life-changing for any one of these participants. But for one woman, it could also be life-saving.

Diem Brown, 25, was cast on the MTV challenge show before hearing her diagnosis of ovarian cancer. She didn't want to regret passing on the opportunity so with two chemotherapy treatments completed and armed with medication to manage nausea and other side effects, she packed her bags and headed for Australia where her days consisted of challenging stunts and tough competition. She survived it all -- although fatigue and pain sometimes slowed her down -- and she is busy surviving ovarian cancer too.

Brown has started a foundation called Live for the Challenge -- kind of like a Make-A-Wish Foundation for patients who are stuggling with medical difficulties. And her own personal wish is that ovarian cancer -- "the disease that whispers" -- would get a megaphone to attract more attention and more research. Because one in 50 women will get ovarian cancer and with no accurate screening for this disease, it leads to tragic outcomes for many women.

It is clear that Brown is one tough contender -- both on TV and in her everyday life. And that makes her a winner no matter what.

Former President Clinton lost his mother, Virginia Clinton Kelley, to breast cancer over 12 years ago. Last year, in partnership with the National Breast Cancer Coalition, NBCC, he helped launch the Virginia Clinton Kelley Breast Education and Research Fund, in honor of his mother, to support breast cancer programs in educating and training breast cancer survivors on influencing research and public policy, fostering innovation in research and health care, and expanding access to quality care.

With Barbra Streisand and other friends, Clinton held a fundraiser in his penthouse apartment atop the Clinton presidential library to raise money for the foundation named after his mother in continuing the progressive breast cancer advocacy programs. NBCC recently received a $2.9 million grant from the federal government to study a vaccine to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer.

On the invitation Clinton wrote, ""We owe it to those who have lost the battle against breast cancer and those still fighting it." If you would like more information on the advocacy work that NBCC is doing that the Virginia Clinton Kelley Breast Education and Research Fund supports, go here.

Frankly, women in the UK are more than angry over fighting for access to a breast cancer drug that might improve their chances for cancer survival -- but to discover that Tanya Bainbridge will be receiving a £2,500 laser treatment for tattoo removal because it makes her feel unlady-like when wearing sleeveless dresses in summer -- has ignited an intense public uproar. Bainbridge, the father of nine children by three women, is a former sailor who became a woman after a sex-change operation. The sex-change operation cost £20,000. Middleton and Heywood Primary Care Trust have now approved additional funding for the upcoming tattoo removal. It is reported they will be paying Bainbridge's travel expenses as well.

The tattoos were done while Bainbridge was still a man. But now that Bainbridge is a woman, she says the tattoos from her life as a man cause depression and that the tattoo removal is an essential medical treatment for her psychological wellbeing. Women being turned down for funding of life-saving cancer drugs in favor of tattoo removal is over the top, and the women are understandably perplexed at the screwy set of priorities of the health bosses. No one is saying that Bainbridge doesn't deserve tattoo removal, the argument is one of what is essential and necessary medical treatment and what is elective medical treatment. If there is not enough money to pay for everyone's medical care, and it is rationed out according to priority, the women wonder how tattoo removal gets funding approval while cancer drugs are denied.