Phyllis George and Polycythemia Rubra Vera
Phyllis George was named “Miss Texas” at age 21 in 1970, quickly followed by winning "Miss America." At age 25, She became famous as the most prominent woman is sports broadcasting, co-hosting the National Football league’s weekly pregame show with Brent Musburger, Irv Cross and Jimmy the Greek.
Dr. Michael DeBakey’s Famous Surgery
If you were a heart surgeon, would you operate on this patient?
• He is 97 years old
• He will certainly die in the next few days if you do not operate
• He invented the surgical procedure that he now needs, more than 40 years ago
• He did research that has saved millions of lives
•...
Franco Harris and the Immaculate Reception
Franco Harris was a running back whose 12,120 yards gained rushing over 13 seasons broke Jim Brown’s record, and he gained more than 1000 yards in each of eight National Football League seasons. He was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection, four-time Super Bowl winner, the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, NFL rushing touchdowns leader, NFL 1970s All-Decade Team, and a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He was most famous for his "Immaculate Reception" on December 24, 1972 that gave the Pittsburgh Steelers their first playoff win ever.
Can You Die from Fear? The Baskerville Effect
You better believe that you can be scared to death. The “Felony Murder Rule” allows prosecutors in all 50 states to bring first-degree murder charges against a defendant if someone dies during a crime such as burglary, rape, or kidnapping, even if the defendant did not intend to kill the victim.
Robin Williams and Lewy Body Dementia
We lost one of the greatest comics and actors of our time when Robin Williams took his own life at his home in California on August 11, 2014. When his brain was examined, he was found to have suffered from Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), which has no known cause and no effective treatment.
Comparing the COVID-19 Pandemic to the 1918-1920 Flu Pandemic
It appears that the current COVID-19 pandemic will not be anywhere near as harmful as the swine flu influenza pandemic of 1918-1920 that started near the end of World War I, infected 500 million people, and killed about 39 million people, which was 2.3 percent of the world’s population of 1.7 billion people at that time.
Regis Philbin’s Lifestyle Changes
Regis Philbin held the Guinness Book of World Records title for the most time spent in front of a television camera -- tallied at 16,343 hours when he retired at age 80 in 2011. He hosted "Live! with Kathie Lee" (which later became "Live! with Regis and Kelly"), "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "Million Dollar Password," the first season of "America's Got Talent, and many others.
Penny Marshall, Death by Diabetes
This is the story of a brilliant and highly successful lady who thought that she was stupid, incompetent and unattractive. Penny Marshall was an outstanding actress, director and producer. In the 1970s, she received three nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy for playing Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne & Shirley.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias, the Best Female Athlete
Babe Didrikson Zaharias was named the best female athlete of the 20th century. In the 1932 Olympics, she became the only track and field athlete, male or female, ever to win individual Olympic medals in a running, throwing and jumping event. She set four world records:
• She won the 80-meter hurdles in a world-record 11.7 seconds and breaking her previous world-record she set in a preliminary heat.
Garry Shandling’s High Blood Calcium
A blood calcium test is one of the routine blood tests done on normal physical exams. If your doctor ever tells you that your blood calcium is high, make sure that you find a cause. The most common cause of high blood calcium is a parathyroid tumor, which usually can be removed and you are cured. Otherwise it can harm and even kill you.
Naim Suleymanoglu, the Pocket Hercules
Many experts consider Naim Suleymanoglu to be the greatest weightlifter of all time because he set an incredible 46 world records, won three straight Olympic gold medals and won eight world championships.
Wilma Rudolph: Olympian and Polio Survivor
At the 1960 Rome Olympics, Wilma Rudolph, a polio survivor, became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games. More than 80,000 spectators watched the 5-foot-11, 130 pound beauty win the 100-meter dash by more than three yards in a world-record 11 seconds.
Emil Zatopek, the Best Distance Runner
Most runners today still think that Emil Zatopek was the greatest runner who ever lived. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, he won three gold medals in the 5,000 meters, the 10,000 meters and marathon, all in Olympic and world record times, a feat that will probably never be equaled.
Munchausen’s Syndrome
Every physician eventually is asked to treat patients who fake illness, usually to get attention or for personal gain. In 1951, British physician Dr. Robert Asher described three patients who went from doctor to doctor with multiple fictional symptoms, many unexplained hospitalizations, and multiple scars from surgeries that never should have been performed in the first place. Their stories sounded so real that they convinced honest doctors to operate on them for no good reason.
Leonard Nimoy and COPD
Leonard Nimoy won three Emmy awards for starring in "Star Trek" ((1966-1969) as Spock, a 23rd-century space voyager from the planet Vulcan. He was known for his pointed ears and constant use of the word "fascinating." Nimoy was also an actor in many other film and TV roles, a director of films, a mediocre singer, a published poet and an accomplished photographer. He gave up smoking two packs of cigarettes a day more than 30 years before his death from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
Glen Campbell’s Dementia
Glen Campbell was the son of a sharecropper who went from childhood poverty to wealth and world fame as a country singer, but he spent his last several years suffering from dementia and died from its complications at age 81 on August 8, 2017.
The Death of Benjamin Franklin
On April 17, 1790, The Pennsylvania Gazette announced the death of its 84-year-old founder, Benjamin Franklin. More than 20,000 people attended his funeral, about 70 percent of the people who lived in Philadelphia at the time. His coffin was carried by the most important men in the State of Pennsylvania and escorted to Christ Church by a crowd of citizens that included printers and members of the American Philosophical Society, which he had founded.
Franco Columbu, Mr. Olympia
Franco Columbu was considered to be one of the strongest men in the world. He was a bodybuilder, powerlifter, actor, and author who won the Mr. Olympia contest twice and also Mr. Universe, Mr. World, Mr. International, Mr. Europe and Mr. Italy contests. He held several world powerlifting records, and his website states that he achieved a bench press of 525 pounds, a squat of 655 pounds, and dead lift of 750 pounds. These are incredible lifts for a man who was only 5'5" tall and weighed only 185 pounds.
Ancel Keys and John Yudkin Were Both Right about Meat and Sugar
Ancel Keys was a prolific American scientist who is best known for his early work on heart attack risk factors in the 1950s. His theory was that dietary saturated fats and cholesterol raise blood cholesterol and blood pressure to increase risk for heart attacks.. Also in the 1950s, John Yudkin was the leading spokesman for the theory that sugar and other refined carbohydrates were the main culprits. Yudkin and Keys argued continuously, in journals and at medical meetings, about whether sugar or saturated fats were the prime cause of heart attacks.
Roger Bannister, First Sub-4-Minute Miler
Roger Bannister was the first human to run a mile in less than four minutes, even though his training was totally inadequate for world-class competition because he was a full time medical student who trained on a single 30-minute workout per day, compared to today's runners who train twice a day for as much as three hours.
Houdini’s Appendix
Harry Houdini was probably the most famous escape artist, magician, and stunt performer of all time. He usually appeared in a long coat and tie, and was one of the cockiest performers ever to appear on stage. He died at age 52 from a ruptured appendix, reportedly caused by being punched in the stomach.
Bicycling is the Most Dangerous Professional Sport
Italian cyclist Michele Scarponi was killed by a truck on April 22, 2017. At age 37, he was at the peak of his career as a professional bicycle racer. He won the opening stage of the Tour of the Alps in Trento, Italy, eventually finished fourth in that tour, returned home that night, and went on a training ride the very next morning.
Don Imus, Prostate Cancer and Emphysema
Don Imus wore an old cowboy hat as the confrontational radio host of “Imus in the Morning,” who shouted tasteless, obscene, sexist, homophobic and even racist remarks about people in the news over more than 100 radio stations to become the "shock jock of radio." In 2009 he was diagnosed with localized prostate cancer and treated with watchful waiting.
Chyna Laurer’s Destructive Choices
Chyna Laurer was a wrestler, bodybuilder and actress who wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as the Ninth Wonder of the World. She often wrestled with men and beat them. In 1999 she became the first, and still the only, woman to win the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Intercontinental Championship.
Louisa Moritz: Death from “Natural Causes”
Louisa Moritz was a Cuban-American actress who played mostly dumb blonde roles in several films and TV situation comedies. She was best known for her role as Rose in the 1975 film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with Jack Nicholson.
Lisa Marie Presley’s Cause of Death
Lisa Marie Presley died from scar tissue from weight loss surgery. She died on January 12, 2023 at the very young age of 54, from intestinal obstruction caused by previous scar tissue from her gastric-bypass weight loss surgery that was supposed to prevent food from passing through her stomach. The original reports of her death listed the cause as cardiac arrest, and these autopsy findings have just recently been released.
Gordie Howe, the Toughest Athlete
National Hockey League All-Star Gordie Howe was arguably the best hockey player ever because he was stronger, faster and more pugnacious than everyone else. He played professional hockey for fifty years.
Alan Turing, Code Breaker and Computer Genius
This week, the Bank of England unveiled its new 50-pound note that features the brilliant World War II codebreaker Alan Turing. The 50-pound note is the highest denomination in circulation and its new design honoring Turing completes the change from paper to polymer currencies that include Winston Churchill on the five-pound note, author Jane Austen on the 10-pound note and artist J. M. W. Turner on the 20-pound note. Turing was selected by more than 250,000 public votes, an effort to atone for the unbelievable cruelty and prejudice against gay people that led Turing to suicide.
Einstein’s Brilliant Life and Needless Death
Albert Einstein is arguably the most famous and brilliant physicist of all time. In 1933, when he was 54, he held the prestigious title of tenured professor at the Berlin Academy of Sciences.
How Did Stalin Die?
On March 1, 1953, after an all-night dinner with heavy drinking among four of the highest Russian government officials, the 73 year-old Joseph Stalin collapsed at his house. Later he was found unconscious on the floor, yet no doctors were summoned until the next morning.
