The news was shared on social media by her kids in a brief statement that was written with such care that you could feel them picking out every word. This is how these things usually happen these days. Kirstie Alley had passed away. She was seventy-one. They also claimed that the cancer that killed her had just lately been identified. People were affected by that final detail because it contained a subdued horror. How does a well-known woman who is surrounded by medical professionals, supervisors, and helpers develop cancer that no one seems to have detected in time?
Colon cancer was the cause, the day after her death, her manager confirmed this to NBC News. Later, People revealed that she had been receiving treatment at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, away from the noise and cameras. She kept it a secret, which now seems to be both heartbreaking and very typical of her. Alley was someone who openly discussed almost everything, including her weight, politics, Scientology, and her time on “Cheers.” The thing that was truly killing her was the one thing she avoided discussing.
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Kirstie Louise Alley |
| Born | January 12, 1951, Wichita, Kansas, USA |
| Died | December 5, 2022 (age 71), Tampa, Florida |
| Cause of Death | Colon cancer (recently diagnosed) |
| Place of Treatment | Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida |
| Profession | Actress |
| Famous Roles | Rebecca Howe in Cheers, Mollie Jensen in Look Who’s Talking trilogy, Saavik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan |
| Major Awards | Emmy Award (1991, 1994), Golden Globe (1991) |
| Reality TV | Dancing with the Stars (2nd place, 2011), Celebrity Big Brother UK (runner-up, 2018) |
In situations like this one, when a celebrity’s death momentarily opens a window, doctors are constantly attempting to explain to the public the particular cruelty of colon cancer. For the most part, the illness is silent. It doesn’t really make an announcement. By the time it does, “let’s look into this” has typically given way to something much more serious in the exam room. Following Alley’s passing, Dr. Paula Denoya of Stony Brook Medicine stated plainly that screening is more important than waiting for your body to give you a warning because colon cancer doesn’t show many symptoms until it’s advanced. The signal is frequently delayed. Sometimes it doesn’t show up at all until it’s the only object in the space.
Alley’s age was appropriate for screening. Instead of 50, doctors now advise a colonoscopy at age 45, and if everything appears normal, then every ten years after that. A woman in her early seventies would fall into the highest-risk category because nearly 90% of colorectal cancer patients are over 50. No information about whether she was screened, whether she avoided it, or whether anything was overlooked has been disclosed and most likely never will be. Her family has also exercised caution in this regard.
We know that everyone’s math changed as a result of the pandemic. According to Dr. Scott Kopetz of MD Anderson, routine colonoscopies virtually stopped for periods of time during COVID, and cancers that would have been discovered early instead were discovered later. That isn’t exactly a Kirstie Alley tale. That is a tale of hundreds of thousands of people whose yearly physicals ended in a phone call that concluded with “let’s just check in next year”, whose appointments were missed, and whose symptoms were disregarded. Alley might have been entangled in the same drift. She might not have been. The question is raised by the timing.
Beneath all of this is a younger-patient narrative that is getting more difficult to ignore. The American Cancer Society reports that between 2012 and 2016, the number of colorectal cancer cases among individuals under 50 increased by more than 2% annually. According to Dr. Joel Levine of UConn Health, individuals under 50 will account for 15% of all colorectal cancer cases in a few years. That is an impressive figure. Researchers haven’t been able to pinpoint the exact cause, but the pattern is real and accelerating diet, lifestyle, processed foods, low fiber intake, and sedentary work. These days, over half of colorectal cancer diagnoses in the United States are linked to a person’s diet, level of physical activity, and use of alcohol or tobacco. The information is unsettling because it requires the reader to do something.
When you witness a death such as Alley’s, your natural tendency is to interpret it. to make a public service announcement out of it. In the days that followed the news, doctors did just that. There was a slight spike in opinion pieces and radio segments advocating for colonoscopies, raising awareness, and telling people over 45 to stop delaying them. The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center’s Dr. Carla Justiniano made the same argument as Denoya and Levine on a local radio program: colonoscopies are unique among cancer screenings because they prevent rather than just detect. In the same procedure, doctors can detect and remove a polyp before it gets worse. A precancerous polyp typically takes five to ten years to develop into something harmful. That window is quite long. It could prevent a great deal of cancer.
It’s difficult to ignore how much of Alley’s career was based on his unmistakable presence loud, humorous, sharp-tongued, occasionally irritating, and nearly always entertaining. “Cheers” star Rebecca Howe wasn’t a reserved person. Mollie from “Look Who’s Talking” wasn’t either. Even her appearances on reality TV, such as her second-place finish on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2011 and her runner-up position on “Celebrity Big Brother” in 2018, had that same persistent presence. She continued to be active in public life. She struggled to remain in it. In hindsight, the silence surrounding her illness seems to be the most unusual aspect of her last year.
Actually, all that’s left is a warning and a name. The name honors a woman who, after forty years of making many people laugh, unexpectedly chose privacy in the end. The warning applies to everyone else, including those who are delaying their appointment, those who feel fine and believe that’s sufficient, and those under 50 who continue to believe that this is someone else’s illness. The doctors claim that the horse is already somewhat out of the barn when the body alerts you to a problem. Nothing new about colon cancer was discovered after Alley’s passing. It merely served as a brief reminder to the nation that the illness is still present, silent, and patient.
i) https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/kirstie-alley-colon-cancer-signs-symptoms-disease-rcna60310
ii) https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2023/01/55krc–death-of-kirstie-alley-highlights-importance-of-colon-cancer-screening.html
iii) https://virginiagastro.com/kirstie-alley-died-from-colon-cancer-a-silent-disease-that-usually-doesnt-have-symptoms-until-its-too-late-fortune/