Author-journalist Joe McGinniss says he was diagnosed in May with advanced prostate cancer but is responding well to treatment and feels "terrific."
The 70-year-old McGinniss is best known for controversial works such as "The Selling of the President" and "Fatal Vision." On Wednesday, he posted on his Facebook page that he had "inoperable, terminal, metastatic prostate cancer." He confirmed the diagnosis in response to an email from The Associated Press and in a subsequent Facebook posting.
McGinniss told the AP that he has no symptoms and is eager to write more books and magazine articles.
This is certainly an upsetting way to end the day.
Joe was, and continues to be, a great friend, and I have every confidence that he will "not go gentle into that good night." But instead "rage, rage against the dying of the light."
I still remember sitting with Joe on the porch of his rented house in Wasilla, looking out over that dead lake and sharing stories about Alaska on one of the most beautiful summer days that I can remember. Not a memory that I will soon forget, and I hope that he returns someday soon so we can pick up where we left off that day.
This country owes Joe McGinniss an incredible debt of gratitude for exposing Sarah Palin to the world. Not to mention the fact that they owe him for the many OTHER wonderful books that he had written before.
I am fortunate to have TWO books in my library signed by Joe, "Going to Extremes" and of course "The Rogue." I will treasure them always.
Hopefully they will soon be joined by the NEXT book that Joe writes as well.
Bear with me Gryphen: God bless you, Joe McGinness.
ReplyDeleteI am with you, Darlene. I bet, too, Gryphen doesn't mind if some send prayers and others send kind thoughts. Believers and non-believers all mean well toward Joe McGinniss-a lovely man.
DeleteI hope all the Sarah Palin episodes are exposed before Joe leaves this world. He has been so dismissed by the media because of "The Rogue" - I would really like to see him given credit for his huge contribution to exposing all the scandals. I would hate to see him go without knowing all his efforts had not been in vain and to be exonerated from all of Palin's accusations.
ReplyDeleteThis is my "Make-A-Wish" for Joe as well.
DeleteHis interview with Glen Rice was the master stroke, to coin a pun. Palin could never risk being asked even one question about it, so she'll never ever run for any office again. Game over.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought the Tucson shooting had much more to do with Palin not running than an ancient sexual encounter - and if it hasn't it should.
DeleteUmmm a "Ancient Sexual encounter" With a Black person while she was engaged to the Toad, one of many BTW.
DeleteThere I fixed it for ya.
I am so sorry to hear this.
ReplyDeleteI know that Joe has more important things to attend to than reading my anonymous comments on this blog, but I hope he knows how valued he is here. Not only is he a fantastic author, but it's obvious he is a remarkably kind and intelligent human being. We need more people like Joe McGinnis.
This makes me sad.
What a FINE man, Gryph, you are so fortunate to have met and spent time with him. We do indeed owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude.
ReplyDeleteI believe in miracles!
Thanks, Joe McGinness for your gift of writing.
ReplyDeleteDear IMers I hate to be OT on this thread but, I HATE HARRY REID!!! What a wuss, wimp, and a fool. Why the hell does he deal with the turtle? He could have gotten rid of those obstructionist repubes but he caved. Four more years of absofuckinglutely nothing getting done for the country. SCREAM!!!
I understand your frustration, but Harry is very clever. He may have a long plan.
DeleteWell, the choice in 2010 was between him and Sharron Angle, sooooo...
DeleteAttacking their own is what the democrats have to STOP if they truly want to achieve their goals. "Little steps" gets there eventually.
DeleteUncle Gryphen, please forward the below site to Mr McGinniss. It is a newly approved drug for prostate cancer, called Provenge.
ReplyDeletePlease make sure, he gets the information, because the drug IS A LIFE SAFER!!!
http://www.provenge.com/
Joe still has a website where you can access him via email.
Deletehttp://www.joemcginniss.net
I read the PDF regarding Provenge -- this part drew my attention:
Delete"Almost all (98.3%) patients in the PROVENGE group and 96.0% in the control group reported an adverse event. The most common adverse events, reported in patients in the
PROVENGE group at a rate ≥ 15%, were chills, fatigue, fever, back pain, nausea, joint ache, and headache. In 67.4% of patients in the PROVENGE group, these adverse events were mild or moderate in severity. Severe (Grade 3) and life-threatening (Grade 4) adverse events were reported in 23.6% and 4.0% of patients in the PROVENGE group compared with 25.1% and 3.3% of patients in the control group."
And farther down, the "Kaplan-Meier Overall Survival Curve for Study 1" shows only a slight improvement with Provenge treatment over control group findings.
Someone in Joe's situation probably would take even that slight improvement in survival chances, of course -- assuming he doesn't have heart, lung, or cerebroarterial complications.
Thanks. I just sent him an email (I hope... My iPad is acting up somehow... :/)
DeleteProstate cancer is very slow moving, even at the stage described - Joe's attitude going forward seems exactly right.
DeleteWatched the movie on http://www.provenge.com/- Lots of excellent info.
DeleteTrying for the third time...
ReplyDeleteUncle Gryphen, please let Mr. mcGinniss know about Provenge. It is recently finally FDA approved, and it is a life saver!!!
http://www.provenge.com/
joemcginniss@gmail.com
DeleteSorry about the multiple posts. Somehow, each time I tried to post, it told me that I could not send an empty response... :/
DeleteI've read six of his books, the conde nast story about the pipeline and clipping from the newspaper my father had collected from his years in Philadelphia print media. Look Up "Investigative Reporter", and Joe's picture should be there, one of the best!
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky to have met and became friends with him!
I wish him the best, cannot wait for his next book.
I lived one town from him when he was in Phila. suburbs. I never knew I was so close to his greatness :(
DeleteI'm sure Sarah will volunteer to bring a pie over to help him convalesce.
ReplyDeleteMay the odds be ever in his favor.
I read and have ALL the books that Mr. McGinniss has published and thoroughly enjoyed them...most especially "The Rogue - Searching for the REAL Sarah Palin".
ReplyDeleteI'll be keeping him in my positive thoughts in the hopes he can beat this cancer!
Alaskans are thinking of you Mr. McGinniss and wishing you well.
Joe - you are a fighter. This is a tough one, but nonetheless, YOU faced up... straight up, to the bitch of the Meth-head Alaska frontier.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the fight. In the end, YOU know she never wins.
Why's that you say, Sarah?
Because he, Joe... Yeah, THAT Joe... faces your deity without shame, an honest man. He will rest in forever peace with his little bit of shame called.... mortality, with conscience.
Take care, Joe.
--- You have changed the world....
This news is posted at the ADN. So far all the comments are from Palin supporters. You know what to do.
ReplyDeleteADN went subscription only and I've chosen to NOT give them my $79 bucks for a year online subscription. Lots of others have done the same.
DeleteThere are a bunch of hateful commenters over there. Amazing ugliness--but a reflection on Sarah. I replied to a few--and then stopped knowing that they are revealing themselves for what they truly are. Sarah is their God--they have forgotten the true One and it shows.
DeleteI am surviving Cancer on a wing and a prayer. To hear some of them say McGinniss got what he deserves is so, so heartbreaking. Just knowing people think that way makes me truly sick. But one shouldn't be surprised by Palin followers. It is a cruel, frightening disease.
How the hell? How the frucking hell is there any supporters left in Alaska for Sarah Palin? I'm fracking amazed how stupid Alaska citizens are. It blows my mind. It appears they want to ignore reality of a corrupt x-governor and her shinanagans. What is wrong with these people...
DeleteThey are all
DeletePalins who are posting that cruel shit. But relax. Karma is a bitch.
What's really ironic is that Palin is the one who looks like she has end stage cancer! Not Joe!
DeleteGod bless you, but never give up until the fighting is done.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear this. I am quite sure Palin and her supporters are rejoicing and saying God is validating her. This is how they roll. Sickening. I'm sure her and her right wing religious nuts "cursed" Joe, the way they do. I've seen this happen many times by crazy Christians when I went to crazy churches. It isn't God, it is the nutjobs that from fundamentalist churches. What would they say if she died? Just blame the "lamestream mediaandliberals."
ReplyDeleteUpsetting news for Joe - I wish him the best.
ReplyDeleteJoe's a tough SOB and an honorable man whose work I began reading in Sports Illustrated magazine years ago. Although he usually wrote about sports and sports figures I had no clue about as a 9 or 10 year old, he wrote in a way that made me feel like I was there listening to the hooves of the horses pounding the dirt track, as the jockeys popped the whips across their flanks, and even smelling the smells of the track.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to send him a note at his gmail address.
By the way, I couldn't find any follow up from his letters to Margo Ward about a crappy article she wrote at New Republic in fall of 2012. Joe detailed some blatant factual inaccuracies that she wrote, but I never found where she responded, if she did at all. If you know anything about a link with follow-up, please post it here.
I reread her rather snide article and then I understood one of the comical jabs Joe made about her being "portlier than him". (Note to self:Don't call someone fat if they're skinnier than you are, especially if he's a writer.) of course that might be why she ignored his letters. Joe's honest if not always tactful, and I admire that. Not the lack of tact so much as the honesty, but I'll take the honesty any day. You can always apologize later for not saying something nicely, but you shouldn't have to apologize for being truthful, ever.
Great Comment, Boney Boo Boo!, the sentiment in your last line has always served me well.
DeleteI've always been curious about that Margo Howard letter and any responses, I hope someone updates us!
Thanks. Still looking here but no luck. Here's some worthless trivia I did learn: Margo Was the only child of Julius Lederman and Eppie Lederman, better known by her pen name Ann Landers.
DeleteBBB
This is saddening news. And very weird as I was just looking at my copy of The Rouge, next to Dunn's book in my library. Thank you Joe McG, for being our Joe. Not no Joe six pack or Joe the Plumber, but our Joe McGinniss, who devoted much time in investigating into and exposing some of the real SP.
ReplyDeleteThank you Joe, for your true journalistic work, and sharing it with the world. Wishing you the best.
Hope that Joe is able to recover from his prostate cancer. How very sad to hear this. :-(
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to he and his family.
I just received an e-mail from Joe.
ReplyDeleteAll things considered he is doing surprisingly well, and has now become an official gym rat just like his Alaskan blogger buddy.
I will write a longer post tomorrow with the portion that he told me to share.
Stay tuned.
Sounds absolutely wonderful, Gryph!!!!!
DeleteGreat to hear Gryph...let him know many IM's are hoping for the best outcome.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts, love and blessings go with you, Joe. I have two of your books: "Going to Extremes" and "The Rogue." Best reading I ever had.
ReplyDeleteCya soon?
Joe, seriously contact Dynamic Greens. They can overnight ship their wheatgrass juice to you. We started using a routine of 20 cubes for 4 months with our ailing mother battling liver cancer. She is completely Cancer free. Their site has valueable info. We found Dynamic Greens to have superior quality and excellent knowledge. Do not hesitate.
ReplyDeleteJoe McGinniss did our country a great service by exposing Palin, and he took a lot of crap from the "elites" that Palin and her gang of vicious ignoramuses also hate. I will always be grateful to him for saving this country from her. I'm from Massachusetts, so I knew she'd be no match for a Holy Cross guy AND Paul Revere. Thank you Joe!
ReplyDeleteVery sad that it was caught so late.
ReplyDeleteI consider Joe one of our national heroes.
ReplyDeleteSelfishly, I hope he is able to complete the "15 Gothic Street" ebook series. I have bought, and enjoyed, the first two.
However, I am sure he has much more important things to do first...like beat that damned Cancer!