Mark W.

About Mark W.

Believe it or not, it was Nancy Reagan who predicted I might one day face cancer. I was a White House aide in 1985 when her husband, then President Ronald Reagan, was diagnosed with cancer of the colon. Mrs. Reagan and I were in a car on our way to the White House from the hospital where he was to be operated on the next day. She was very quiet for most of the ride. But at one point she turned to me and, in an understandable effort to minimize what was happening said: “Anyone can get cancer. Even you, Mark.” I nodded politely but did not think much about it at the time. But it flashed back to me 22 years later, when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. At the time, I told my wife, Erin, “Well, Mrs. Reagan was right.” When she found out, Mrs. Reagan was very supportive with calls and letters. I underwent a radical prostatectomy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and have been fine ever since. (Adapted from my book, Movie Nights with the Reagans, being published February 27 by Simon & Schuster.)

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