Colleen Zenk Pinter – Oral Cancer News

Colleen Zenk Pinter: Cancer survivor has much to be thankful for this year

Source: Acorn Online Author: Susan Wolf Thanksgiving will be more than a pleasant holiday gathering with family and friends this year for Colleen Zenk Pinter. It will be a celebration of life, of being thankful for those closest to her. Ms. Zenk Pinter approaches this Thanksgiving cancer-free after a long and often painful battle with oral cancer. Her journey has been fraught with setbacks, but she has emerged as a formidable opponent, one who now uses her celebrity to educate others about oral cancer. A two-time Emmy Award nominee, Colleen Zenk Pinter has played the character of Barbara Ryan since 1978 on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns. Her own world was turned upside down in March 2007 when her oral cancer was diagnosed. A lesion under her tongue “that didn’t even look like cancer” was, in fact, cancer. Somehow she got through her daughter Georgia’s 14th birthday party, telling no one, not even her husband, actor Mark Pinter, who was out of town. Finally, the next day, she gave the news to her husband and mother and then went to see Jen Wastrom, a woman she affectionately calls the “ring leader” of her posse of friends. Eventually “the posse” was notified and thesupport that has come to mean so much to Ms. Zenk Pinter immediately materialized. After a second opinion from Dr. Clarence Sasaki of Yale-New Haven Hospital on how best to treat her cancer, Ms. Zenk Pinter put herself into his hands. He performed a partial [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-11-30T11:47:23-07:00November, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

After being diagnosed, Zenk Pinter is an oral cancer spokesperson

Source: www.acorn-online.com Author: Susan Wolf Colleen Zenk Pinter of Redding, an actor who stars as Barbara Ryan on As the World Turns, has partnered with the Oral Cancer Foundation, Yale New-Haven Hospital and Roswell Park Cancer Institute to be a spokesperson for oral cancer. Ms. Pinter was diagnosed with oral cancer in March 2007 and is now cancer-free. “I had no risk factors for this ‘old man’s cancer,’ she said, but her doctors said hers was probably due to human papilloma virus (HPV), which is most often associated with cervical cancer. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the country, and it is estimated that about 70% of American men and women will be infected at some point in their lives. According to Ms. Zenk Pinter, a growing number of women are being diagnosed with oral cancer, from one in 10 to now a 50-50 split. “The difference is HPV,” she said. She is a proponent of the Gardasil® vaccine against HPV for both girls and boys. It doesn’t help if only half of the population (girls) is being vaccinated. Why boys? “Simple. HPV is sexually transmitted.” Physicians and researchers advocate that the vaccine be given to both sexes, Ms. Zenk Pinter said. During her speech at New York University School of Dentistry graduation, where she received the 2009 Harry S. Strusser Memorial Award for Public Service and Outstanding Contributions to Public Health, Ms. Zenk Pinter implored the graduating doctors and surgeons to thoroughly check their patients for [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-11-28T07:11:44-07:00November, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Early detection is the key

Source: Newstime.com Author: Sandra Diamond Fox Standing before nearly 500 graduates of New York University's School of Dentistry at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan last month, two-time Emmy Award nominee Colleen Zenk Pinter stepped forward to accept the Dr. Harry Strusser Memorial Award for public service. While Pinter, 56, was accustomed to being on stage -- for more than 30 years she played the character of Barbara Ryan on CBS' "As The World Turns" -- speaking at NYU's graduation held very special meaning for her. She was being honored for her work in bringing awareness to oral cancer. Little more than two years ago, the Redding resident for 23 years and mother of six received the news that would change her life -- she was diagnosed with stage 2 squamous cell carcinoma of the ventral tongue. Oral cancer. Pinter's nightmare began in 2005 when she noticed a change in her speech. After an examination, her dentist said it was the result of her teeth shifting, which can sometimes occur after age 50. The following summer, when she developed a painful cold sore under her tongue, an oral surgeon eventually diagnosed it as a bacterial and fungal infection. Once the infection was treated, however, a tumor was discovered underneath it. Pinter started researching oral cancer. "I was in shock," she said. "I didn't fit the profile of people who had this type of cancer." Up until recently, oral cancer was often referred to as "the old man's cancer," and was mostly contracted by [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-06-19T09:56:13-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Colleen Zenk Pinter’s battle with cancer

Source: www.womansday.com Author: By Colleen Zenk Pinter, as told to Micki Siegel The cameras were rolling and I was trying to say my lines, but I knew I sounded like I'd had a stroke. For the last 30 years I've been playing Barbara Ryan, a feisty woman who's never at a loss for words, on As the World Turns. But now I couldn't get the words out clearly. Viewers started writing to the show and flooding fan websites, wondering why I sounded so awful. I knew I owed them an explanation, but I just wasn't ready. I was still digesting the bad news. On March 5, 2007–my daughter Georgia's 14th birthday–I found out that I had oral cancer. Stage 2 squamous cell carcinoma, to be exact. I remember leaving the doctor's office, picking up Georgia's birthday cake, wrapping some presents and hosting a party as if nothing had happened. I was in shock. I thought most people who got oral cancer were men who smoked and drank heavily, and I don't fall into any of those categories. But I learned that I was probably among the fastest-growing group of oral cancer patients, because my illness was most likely caused by HPV-16, a strain of a common sexually transmitted virus that can also cause cervical cancer. Scary Signs It started in December 2005, when I noticed that my speech was changing. Suddenly my s's had a bit of a whistle. My dentist said that because I was in my 50s, my [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-24T21:30:08-07:00March, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

As The World Turns cancer storyline nominated for award

Source: www.soaps.com Author: staff Congratulations to the cast and crew of As The World Turns for their nomination for a 2008 Sentinel for Health Award! The Barbara/Cancer storyline was nominated. The Sentinel for Health awards recognize television storylines, both Primetime and Daytime, that inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives. A panel of experts from the Centers for Disease Control, National Cancer Institute and partner organizations evaluate the nominees to develop a list of finalists. The finalists are then chosen based on entertainment value and benefit to the viewing audience. The awards are part of the Norman Lear Center, a research center which studies the impact of entertainment on society. Barbara's oral cancer storyline was actually brought about because of Colleen Zenk Pinter's (Barbara) real life battle with oral cancer. Last fall, after weeks of fans asking about the change in her speech patterns, Colleen announced that she had been battling oral cancer for months; when she was diagnosed, doctors found that she had stage two oral cancer. Colleen underwent three surgeries and actually had part of her tongue removed and reconstructed. She has been in remission for a year now. On the show, Barbara has been battling the same cancer with rounds of chemotherapy. One of her doctors recently told Babs she was responding well and she has returned to her life before the diagnosis. However, she has also been very preoccupied with Paul's money problems, Meg's current pregnancy and has been ignoring [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-09-20T07:35:53-07:00September, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Actress Colleen Zenk Pinter Partners with the Oral Cancer Foundation to Raise Public Awareness

Two time Emmy nominated actress Colleen Zenk Pinter, best known for her long running role as Barbara Ryan on CBS's As the World Turns, has teamed up with the Oral Cancer Foundation to share the story of her battle against oral cancer, and raise public awareness of a disease which kills more Americans each year than more commonly known cancers. Zenk Pinter's first stop was CBS's The Early Show. In an interview with co-anchor Hannah Storm, Zenk Pinter revealed how a seemingly stubborn canker sore turned out to be a stage-two malignant oral cancer, requiring several surgeries to reconstruct her tongue, and months of radiation treatments. Zenk Pinter explained to Storm that she believes that her cancer was caused by the human papillomavirus. "I had absolutely none of the historic risk factors for this cancer, I never used tobacco and only drank socially," she said, referring to the two other common causes of the disease. "In fact, young Americans who have none of the historic risk factors are the fastest growing segment of oral cancer patients in the country," Brian Hill, executive director of the Oral Cancer Foundation says, "and we believe the culprit behind the surge in cases is HPV16, the same virus that causes cervical cancer." Dr. Mark Lingen, Professor of Pathology at the University of Chicago School of Medicine says, "Colleen was very typical of most Americans in their lack of knowledge of oral cancer. Awareness and routine screening is particularly important, since early discovery is directly [...]

Webmaster2008-07-08T22:22:48-07:00November, 2007|OCF In The News|

Speaking Out

11/28/2007 web-based article Jennifer Lenhart www.soapoperadigest.com Long running TV show As the World Turn's Colleen Zenk Pinter (character Barbara Ryan) spoke about her battle with tongue cancer in Digest's 11/27 issue, but her main goal is to encourage everyone to get screened. It's a quick, completely painless procedure. "You should demand a cancer screening from your denist," she advises. "They'll look in your mouth and feel down inside your jaw bone, outside and inside, upper and lower, they'll look at your tongue and throat." Here, she talks more about her initial diagnosis, and when she first decided to share her story. Soap Opera Digest: How did this all begin? Colleen Zenk Pinter: I first noticed it last summer, so it's been over a year now. [I constantly had] canker sores coming and going last summer into last fall. They finally stopped going away and started getting larger — you know how painful one is, these were multiplying. I said, "This isn't right," and that's when I called my physician to get my yearly, thinking I could get in right away, forgetting that it takes a while to book something like that. I called the second week of November and he couldn't get me in until the first week of January. I had actually talked to Eldo [Ray Estes, ATWT's key makeup artist] at work about it. I had shown him and said, 'I'm dealing with this nasty thing that won't go away.' So I went in and saw my doctor, [...]

Webmaster2008-07-09T20:28:14-07:00November, 2007|OCF In The News|