The awareness show was hosted by network news anchors Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams and which aired on various TV channels including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Bio, Current TV, Discovery Health, E!, G4, HBO, HBO Latino, MLB Network, mun2, Showtime, Smithsonian Channel, The Style Network, TV One and VH1in 195 countries with the Armed Forces Network.
Stevie Wonder, a Soul star dedicated his version of “With You I’m Born Again” for his late wife Syreeta Wright, who died due to her breast and bone cancers in 2004. With the song Fast Break Syreeta and Billy Preston had hit in 1979.
Stevie presented the tune, which he performed with singer Natasha Bedingfield by saying, “At some point in time cancer has touched someone in our lives. It is that unmistakable line… ‘I have cancer’. I know this because I lost someone very special – a friend, sister-like, my first wife Syreeta to breast cancer.” “We must stand up to cancer and beat it back and beat it out of existence. We can and we will. Let’s join together and do this,” he said. He also presented Righteous Brothers ballad Unchained Melody with country star Martina McBride, Leona Lewis, Aaron Neville and U2 rocker The Edge.
As participant of the show, Neil Diamond dedicated his performance of the Beatles’ Yesterday to his “beautiful niece” Jennifer, who died “way too young” at 30, and his mother. He said, “They told my mom, when she was 75, she had cancer and she said, ‘I’m gonna beat it’ – and she did. We just celebrated her 92nd birthday. Happy birthday mom.”
Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze’s widow Lisa Niemi also presented touching moments during the show. Rob Lowe wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the messag ‘In Memory of Mom’, while dancer Niemi took to the telethon stage as her cancer-stricken husband had done at the first Stand Up 2 Cancer telethon in 2008. A year later, he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. Niemi said, “Patrick appeared on the first Stand Up 2 Cancer show and bravely talked for the first time in public about his own battle with pancreatic cancer. It is a moment I will not soon forget.”
Niemi added, “It is up to all of us who loved Patrick to stand up to cancer. Please donate for all of those in the fight and in his memory.”
By reading tales of tragedy, triumph and hope from real-life cancer sufferers, Renee Zellweger, Sally Field and Tobey Maguire place their acting skill for good utilize.
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