Anderson Cooper broke down in tears on Tuesday night while eulogizing his colleague and friend Faith Kleppinger just hours after she lost her battle with cancer.
Kleppinger – who was just 50 – was diagnosed with a rare appendix cancer just a few weeks ago, Cooper told viewers. She was a longtime writer for AC 360, and the creation of the program’s popular “The Ridiculist” segment which closed out most episodes.
Read MoreTonight @andersoncooper said goodbye to our friend and long-time writer, Faith Kleppinger, who lost her battle to cancer this morning.
“She had a magic about her with words and humor,” said Anderson. “Faith…thank you for all the life and the laughs and the love that you shared” pic.twitter.com/SiA4wuohHJ Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) June 16, 2021
“We sat in the shade outside on a really beautiful summer day and we laughed and we held her hand and it was a good day,” said Cooper while fighting to hold back his tears. “She said she didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her because her cancer was inoperable… yes, she was just about to turn 50 and she had decades of life ahead of her, but she didn’t feel sorry for herself.”
Cooper then added: “She was not asking: ‘Why me?’ ‘Why not me?’, she said. ‘Shit happens.'” Photos of Kleppinger with her family, Cooper, and friends ran on the screen the entire time.
Kleppinger did have one last wish, however, and so last weekend she went with her sisters and mother to the beach, said Cooper. That wish was fulfilled just in time.
“Early this morning, Faith lost her battle with cancer,” said an emotional Cooper. “She was surrounded by her family, surrounded by good people who loved her fiercely. ‘Faith became her angel at 1:45 AM,’ her mom texted me this morning, but really – in so many ways – Faith already was an angel.”
Cooper spoke of her “magic” with words and her humor, noting: “She could make you laugh so hard that you would cry some times. It was hard to breathe. She did it to me all the time with the things she wrote on ‘The Ridiculist.'”
The program then ran a clip of Cooper discussing the arrest of actor Gérard Depardieu for urinating mid-flight in the aisle of an airplane. Only part of the segment, which was written by Kleppinger, made it to air however as Cooper broke down into a fit of hysterical laughter. He did attempt to regain his composure, but each time found himself laughing even harder than before.
He found himself in a similar situation on Tuesday, although this time it was the grief over Kleppinger’s death rather than her acerbic wit that left him unable to maintain his composure.
“Faith Kleppinger. Thank you. Thank you for all the laughs and the love that you shared with us,” said Cooper, who lost his mother to stomach cancer in 2019.
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Understanding Appendix Cancer
The Appendix Cancer Pseudomyxoma Peritonei Research Foundation states that patients diagnosed with appendix cancer have reported experiencing symptoms including:
- Appendicitis
- Increased abdominal girth
- Bloating
- Pain/discomfort in the abdominal regioncan be a dull ache or sharp pains similar to appendicitis
- Hernia symptomsoften initially diagnosed as a hernia, especially in men
- In women, symptoms of an ovarian cyst or tumoroften initially misdiagnosed as ovarian cancer
- Ascites (fluid) buildup in the abdominal cavity
Types of Appendix Cancer
There are various types of appendix cancer, according to the Appendix Cancer Pseudomyxoma Peritonei Research Foundation:
- Low grade mucinous neoplasms of the appendix (formerly known as mucinous cystadenomas) are non-cancerous tumors of the appendix.
- Adenocarcinomas are cancerous tumors created by gland-forming cells that line the inside of the appendix. They may spread to other parts of the body, other organs in the abdomen or to the local lymph nodes.
- Signet-ring cell adenocarcinomas (so called because of the physical appearance of the cells under the microscope) are a subset of adenocarcinomas of the appendix. Signet ring cell cancers are generally considered more aggressive than other adenocarcinomas because they are faster growing, more likely to spread to local lymph nodes and harder to completely remove at the time of surgery.
- Adenocarcinoid cancers (also known as Goblet Cell Carcinoids or Goblet Cell Adenocarcinoma) are a hybrid tumor of both adenocarcinoma and a neuroendocrine (or carcinoid cancer). The expected behavior of adenocarcinoid tumors tends to follow that of the adenocarcinoma portion of the tumor.
- Neuroendocrine (Carcinoid) tumors arise from a subset of cells lining the appendix known as neuroendocrine cells. They are generally considered to be slow growing and have a very different behavior than adenocarcinomas of the appendix.
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