“Shaft” is playing
the survivor role

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Actor Richard Roundtree was working on a movie in Costa Rica back in 1993 when he felt a lump in his breast while showering.
Roundtree was not too concerned, since the lump was the size of an eraser head.
Doctors, though, delivered some stunning news to him. The lump was cancerous.
"Talk about traumatic," he said. "What do you mean I have breast cancer?"
There was no history of cancer in Roundtree’s family, and he believed at the time that only women developed breast cancer.
Still, the reality of the disease really hit home when the actor underwent chemotherapy treatments and a double mastectomy.
"Like a bad guy in a film, it got me," he said of cancer.
The actor, best known for his starring role in the 1971 film Shaft, recovered thanks to the excellent treatment he received at a hospital sponsored by the motion picture and television industry in Woodland Hills, Calif.
Today, he is 65, lives in a Los Angeles suburb and continues to work in the industry. He appeared in the recent film Speed Racer and has been in several episodes of the television series Desperate Housewives and Heroes.
In the last few months, Roundtree has developed a relationship with Cancer Treatment Centers of America, which has three locations in the United States, including one at 1331 E. Wyoming Ave.
On Friday, the local CTCA welcomed the veteran actor to Celebrate Life 2008, an annual event that commemorates the five-year anniversaries of cancer survivors who were treated at the hospital.
"Isn’t it grand to be a survivor?" Roundtree asked the crowd of cancer survivors, patients and loved ones.
Roundtree, who turns 66 on July 9, described cancer research and treatment as a "war against a vicious enemy." He called on all individuals to exercise, maintain a good diet, visit a doctor and have all lumps checked.
"Early detection can save your life, as it did mine," he said.
Roundtree, who played a slave in the 1977 TV miniseries Roots, has gone public with his battle with cancer. He believes survivors should use their second chance to help patients through their ordeal.
The actor recalls a stewardess crediting him with saving her husband’s life after a People magazine story on the actor’s plight convinced the man to have a cancerous lump seen by a doctor.
Now, he’s affiliated with CTCA. He liked his visit to the facility, describing it as a colorful building that is not as sterile as many hospital settings. The views from rooms are impressive, he said, and the staff takes special care of patients.
"I’m glad I came out," he said. "It’s an incredible facility. You’re a human being here. It’s fabulous."
Besides addressing a large crowd, he also appeared at a Tree of Life unveiling in the hospital lobby. The names of 10 five-year cancer survivors were placed on artificial leaves on the bronze tree.
"The ceremony was very moving," he said.
Also on Friday, CTCA released doves and planted 13 real trees in a "survivor grove" in Juniata Park to mark five years of being cancer free.
Three five-year survivors attended the ceremony, where the theme was Some Kind of Wonderful. Allan Andrews, Patricia Foster and Jan Pederson started their treatment at one of CTCA’s other two sites — in Illinois and Oklahoma — before transferring to the Wyoming Avenue location when it opened in December 2005.
CTCA executives Steve Bonner and John McNeil presented them with plaques.
"It’s wonderful to have more time," said Andrews, a father of four who was grateful for the chance to see his oldest son get married a few weeks ago.
Phyllis Ellis expects to someday receive one of those plaques as a five-year survivor. The Bloomfield, N.J. resident was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006.
A doctor suggested she undergo a mastectomy, but luckily for Ellis, her sister saw a television commercial for CTCA. After making an initial appointment, a doctor shrunk the tumor. No mastectomy was necessary, and today Ellis returns every three months for a checkup.
"When I came here, it changed my life," she said. "They took care of everything. You get treated so well. You’re not just a number."
McNeil, the local hospital’s president and CEO, explained that employees use the "Mother Standard" of treatment. That is, they care for patients the way they’d like their mothers to be treated. He described employees as caring experts who provide expert care.
Dr. Steven Standiford, the hospital’s chief of staff, described the CTCA staff and patients as a big family. He said patients come to the hospital for a second opinion, because they’ve been told nothing more can be done for them or because they didn’t like their previous treatment.
Patients support each other, he said, and the oncologists and other medical staff listen to their concerns.
Not every patient survives, Standiford acknowledged, but CTCA tries to make a difference in all of their lives.
"We spend time with people," he said. "We treat the person, not just the cancer." ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com