Kirstie Alley Dies at 71

[Verdinut]

Kirstie Alley Had Colon Cancer Before Her Death at Age 71, Star's Rep Reveals

PEOPLE has exclusively learned that Kirstie Alley, who died Monday at age 71, had colon cancer

people.com

 

[j_garcia]

Saw that last night, pretty sad. It was a little weird to have a main character replaced in Cheers, but I always liked her in the show.

 

[Mikado463]

too many of my contemporary's passing as of late........

may she RIP

 

[Trebdp83]

Talented comedic actress and not bad as a Vulcan. Watched an episode of “Fat Actress” last night. Her crackhead brother, played by Christopher McDonald, is disgusted with her weight and tries to get her to lose it by smoking crack. Mom and dad, played by Connie Stevens and Geoffrey Lewis, are called in to intervene and end up smoking crack themselves. Funny s#%t.

 

[lovinthehd]

Loved her eyes....she first came into view for me with the Star Trek II Wrath of Khan....

 

[Swerd]

Yesterday, when I first heard of Kiristie Alley's death, I also heard that she died of a recently diagnosed, but undisclosed cancer. I wondered if it was some type of cancer, such as pancreatic cancer, that often can mean death may come soon. I felt sad by that thought.

Today, I was more shocked to read that she died of colon cancer, and that it was only diagnosed about half a year before she died. To me, something seems very wrong about that. Almost always, colon cancer develops and progresses slowly, over the course of several years. If it's caught early enough, it can be successfully treated.

I really hesitate to criticize those who have recently died, but I also find myself compelled to turn Alley's death into a teachable moment.

Colonoscopies have been routinely done since the 1990s. They have been responsible for significantly early detection of colon cancers. Early enough to make that disease treatable or even curable. And this is the case even though only about 50% of the eligible population actually go through with colonoscopy.

It seems like Kirstie Alley might have been one of those 50% of Americans who avoided colonoscopy. If so, she paid a steep price. If she had gotten a colonoscopy, roughly 5 years ago, she might still be alive and well today.

Here are graphs of the number of deaths among women in the USA, each year from 1930 through 2016. See the line for Colon & rectal cancer in medium blue. Deaths among women due to colon cancer have been falling steadily since the late 1940s. Effective treatments are available, but only if the disease is found early on. (I didn't show the graph for men, where the positive results are more dramatic. But I can show it if you ask.)

 

[TLS Guy]

Yesterday, when I first heard of Kiristie Alley's death, I also heard that she died of a recently diagnosed, but undisclosed cancer. I wondered if it was some type of cancer, such as pancreatic cancer, that often can mean death may come soon. I felt sad by that thought.

Today, I was more shocked to read that she died of colon cancer, and that it was only diagnosed about half a year before she died. To me, something seems very wrong about that. Almost always, colon cancer develops and progresses slowly, over the course of several years. If it's caught early enough, it can be successfully treated.

I really hesitate to criticize those who have recently died, but I also find myself compelled to turn Alley's death into a teachable moment.

Colonoscopies have been routinely done since the 1990s. They have been responsible for significantly early detection of colon cancers. Early enough to make that disease treatable or even curable. And this is the case even though only about 50% of the eligible population actually go through with colonoscopy.

It seems like Kirstie Alley might have been one of those 50% of Americans who avoided colonoscopy. If so, she paid a steep price. If she had gotten a colonoscopy, roughly 5 years ago, she might still be alive and well today.

Here are graphs of the number of deaths among women in the USA, each year from 1930 through 2016. See the line for Colon & rectal cancer in medium blue. Deaths among women due to colon cancer have been falling steadily since the late 1940s. Effective treatments are available, but only if the disease is found early on. (I didn't show the graph for men, where the positive results are more dramatic. But I can show it if you ask.)
View attachment 58950

She was a member of the Church of Scientology. While adherents will seek medical care if sick and unwell, their relationship with allopathic medicine is an arms length one. I suspect this was an issue in the late diagnosis.

 

[Dan]

If you don’t want to get the anesthesia and all that try a non invasive CT colonography. It works as well is over in ten minutes and you can go straight to work or whatever. No distension or sleepiness. The only difference is you can’t get a biopsy. Much cheaper too.

 

[Swerd]

She was a member of the Church of Scientology. While adherents will seek medical care if sick and unwell, their relationship with allopathic medicine is an arms length one. I suspect this was an issue in the late diagnosis.

I had also read that, and wondered about that as well. You're probably right.

To make her colon cancer death a teachable moment, I thought if I avoided discussion of her Scientology Church membership, it might widen the scope.

If you don’t want to get the anesthesia and all that try a non invasive CT colonography. It works as well is over in ten minutes and you can go straight to work or whatever. No distension or sleepiness. The only difference is you can’t get a biopsy. Much cheaper too.

There are certainly people who avoid colonoscopy because they fear the anesthesia and the invasiveness. However, CT colonography still requires the dreaded prep.

In Alley's case, I wonder if those reasons entered her thinking. Her misguided 'church philosophy' may have made her dismiss any idea of seeking preventive medical help, until it was far too late.

 

[Swerd]

Here is the latest available data published in 2022. The graphs show the number of deaths among men and for women in the USA, each year from 1930 through 2019. Among men, the deaths per year due to colon cancer were similar to women, but the drop after the mid 1980s was more prominent than in women.

Men

Women