Long Island comedian John Ziegler raising awareness for pancreatic cancer after his own battle with the disease
NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y. -- A Long Island comedian is raising awareness for pancreatic cancer.
John Ziegler dreamed of going into stand-up comedy as a child. He made it a reality when he switched careers at age 40. But everything changed after more than a decade on stage.
Ziegler, at 54, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
"It's a little shocking. You go a little numb. My first thought was I gotta call my girlfriend. How do you give that news?" said Ziegler. "And the second thought was I don't think I'm gonna be around very long, because that's my knowledge of pancreatic cancer, and I really wanted to shoot a comedy special."
Ziegler wrote the special from his hospital bed in 2021. Six weeks after chemotherapy, with the help of friends, he taped "Getting My Affairs in Order" at Governors Comedy Club.
"I just really wanted something that people could watch if I was no longer here," said Ziegler.
Ziegler, still thriving more than a year after the special's release, credited Dr. Matthew Weiss of Northwell Cancer Institute for saving his life.
"It's the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States," said Weiss, deputy physician-in-chief and director of the surgical oncology program at Northwell Cancer Institute.
Weiss said pancreatic cancer research is underfunded and understudied, which is why people raising awareness like Ziegler are making a difference.
"We do cure patients with pancreatic cancer and it's really important that we have patients out there kind of rallying folks around the fact that we're making improvements in treating pancreatic cancer," said Weiss.
For Ziegler, laughter has always been some of the best medicine.
"I think having a sense of humor through it all made a huge difference," said Ziegler.
Ziegler and his wife will celebrate their two-month wedding anniversary on Thanksgiving, which is fitting since he says there's a lot to be thankful for.
Ziegler's next big show on Long Island is "Stand Up/Sit Down" in Huntington on Dec. 12. It will also include a Q&A with the audience.
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Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research holds annual "Seeing Beyond" symposium
Renowned scientists presented their latest research on detection and surveillance, as well as interception, of early pancreatic cancer at the Lustgarten Foundation's annual "Seeing Beyond" symposium this week.
"We've found we can actually increase significantly the amount of stage one cancers from about 5% to almost 39% in this cohort. This is really unheard of. We also minimized the number of metastatic diseases, and we actually increased the number of dissectable cancers when they're under surveillance," said Dr. Marcia Canto, with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The Lustgarten Foundation is a proud community partner of CBS New York.