In Memoriam: Lori Hope
Lori Hope (October 27, 1953 - September 27, 2012) was an author, producer, and public speaker with more than 25 years experience as a communications professional. A former newspaper editor-in-chief and award-winning journalist who developed hundreds of medical news reports and documentaries for television broadcast, she earned dozens of awards including two regional Emmys, a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award honor, and a National Associated Press Broadcasting Award.
Following a diagnosis of lung cancer seventeen years after she quit smoking, Hope penned the widely-read book, Help Me Live: 20 Things People with Cancer Want You to Know, which was featured in The Wall Street Journal, Redbook magazine, U.S. News & World Reports, NBC's Today Show, ABC News' Nightline program, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Hallmark Channel, and other prominent print and broadcast media. Hope also wrote essays and opinion pieces that appeared in Newsweek and other publications and were broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations nationwide. One of her essays appears in two McGraw-Hill college English textbook anthology with works by Barbara Ehrenreich, Eric Schlosser, and Nelson Mandela. Her broadcast work appeared on CBS, ABC, PBS, HBO, and NBC stations, and she was also a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show. Hope lectured about conscious and compassionate communication, as well as smoking cessation and addiction and the stigma of lung cancer, at institutions including Tulane University Medical School and UCLA, and presented before organizations and businesses including the American Cancer Society, Google, the Oncology Nursing Society, and the American Thoracic Society International Conference. She frequently made public presentations not only about communicating with cancer patients, but also with anyone who was suffering from any illness or condition, even depression. Her speeches were based in part on the findings of research she conducted in writing Help Me Live: 20 Things People with Cancer Want You to Know, which included interviews with authorities such as Jimmie Holland, MD (Memorial-Sloan Kettering psychiatrist, creator of the field of Psycho-oncology, and author of the classic, The Human Side of Cancer); Wendy Harpham, MD (author of Happiness in a Storm); and Jerome Groopman, MD (New Yorker staff writer, author of The Anatomy of Hope, and Harvard professor and physician). A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Hope earned a BA in Philosophy before becoming a journalist and working at several network affiliate stations in St. Louis, Portland, Oregon, and other markets. She taught documentary production in San Francisco at the nation's most advanced non-commercial media access and training center, Bay Area Video Coalition, for more than a decade, chaired her temple's social action committee for three years, and served on numerous nonprofit boards. Hope was diagnosed with lung cancer on June 20, 2002, after getting a CT scan for an abdominal concern. Her abdomen was clear, but the radiologist detected a shadow on the lower left lobe of her lung, which turned out to be a tumor. After she underwent a lobectomy and was NED (No Evidence of Disease) for almost ten years, she was diagnosed with Stage IV NSCLC in April, 2012. In her spare time, Hope enjoyed her family and friends, walking her dogs, and exercising to stay strong, healthy, and centered.For Donations for the Lori Hope Memorial Fund
Your donation will enable us to continue our dedication to raising awareness and providing affordable early detection for those at risk for lung cancer. We will be using a portion of your donation to provide free CT scans to those who are at risk for lung cancer; the rest will go towards raising awareness, education, and patient services.
To donate in memory of Lori Hope, you may mail a check or click on the donate button below (Note: After you fill in your donation amount but BEFORE you click submit you will see a space to enter the In Memoriam name. However, it is not necessary as this donate button is specifically for the Lori Hope Memorial Fund):
Mail checks to:
The Beverly Fund
Attn: Lori Hope Memorial
P.O. Box 330266
San Francisco, CA 94133-0266