The longtime Connecticut TV weather reporter Geoff Fox on Saturday announced that he would be entering hospice care as part of his ongoing cancer battle. He has spent nearly three decades at WTNH News8. Everyone's favorite weatherman, wrote on Facebook thar he was dealing with "cancerous growths" on his liver, lungs, and pancreas. He also wrote that he opted for hospice care because he was too weak for chemotherapy after previous bouts of cancer.

Now 75, he wrote, "With hospice I’m given the opportunity to stay just drugged enough to avoid the worst. And a guarantee I can die at home." He also noted that currently he had no symptoms or experiencing any pain from cancer.

"So, I've chosen how to die - out of pain. At the moment nothing is necessary. I feel fine," he wrote.

Also Read: Dan Marino Shares What Helped Him Treat His Liver Disease, Details Inside

Fox's Cancer Diagnosis

It was in 2016, when his first diagnosis and update on cancer came in. It was pancreatic cancer. For that, he underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation before being declared in remission. Earlier this year too, he had another surgery on his vocal chords after a cancerous mass was found on his clavicle.

Cancer Recurrence

Cancer recurrence happens when cancer comes back after treatment. It could be because treatment missed cancerous cells or because the treatment did not affect some cells. Cleveland Clinic notes that while remission means you don't have cancer symptoms and tests don't find signs of cancer, it can come back after being in remission.

There are different types of cancer recurrence, based on its location.

• Local Recurrence: The same kind of cancer has come back to same place as the original cancer.
• Regional Recurrence: The cancer returns to lymph nodes or tissues near the original cancer.
• Distant Recurrence: The same cancer from the original tumor has spread to organs or tissues located far from the original tumor.

Cancer recurrence is a foremost concern of patients and their caregivers. The 2018 study titled Fear of Cancer Recurrence: A Practical Guide for Clinicians note that the fear of recurrence can negatively affect quality of life, and approximately 7% of patients develop severe disabling fear that includes constant intrusive thoughts and misinterpretation of mild or unrelated symptoms.

Another 2018 study, Central Nervous System Cancers, published in the Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology notes that some cancers are difficult to treat and may have a high rate of recurrence. Glioblastoma, which is the most aggressive and common type of primary brain cancer, recurs in nearly all patients, despite treatment.

A 2017 study titled Preoperative predictors for early recurrence of resectable pancreatic cancer, and a 2012 study titled Early recurrence of pancreatic cancer after resection and during adjuvant chemotherapy, note that pancreatic cancer has a 36% chance of recurrence within 1 year of curative surgery, 38% chance of local recurrence after adjuvant chemotherapy, and 46% distant metastasis after adjuvant chemotherapy.

A new Washington Post–KFF poll has found that one in six U.S. parents have skipped or delayed routine childhood vaccinations, not including flu or coronavirus shots, for their children. While the vast majority of parents continue to follow recommended schedules, the survey highlights a concerning rise in vaccine hesitancy driven largely by distrust in government institutions and concerns about safety.

According to the poll, conducted between July 18 and August 4, 2025, among 2,716 U.S. parents and guardians, 16 percent reported delaying or skipping at least one vaccine for their child. Even more troubling, 9 percent admitted skipping highly critical immunizations such as the polio or measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines.

Public health experts warn that skipping such vaccines risks large-scale outbreaks of diseases once thought to be under control.

Also Read: Dan Marino Shares What Helped Him Treat His Liver Disease, Details Inside

“This survey gives us the clearest picture yet of what is fueling hesitation,” said Liz Hamel, KFF’s vice president and director of public opinion and survey research, as reported by the Washington Post. “We still have strong support for vaccines among parents in this country, but we’re also seeing cracks in confidence, especially among younger parents. The big question is whether those cracks will deepen.”

Who Is Skipping Shots?

The Post–KFF poll shows that vaccine avoidance is not evenly distributed. Instead, it is tied to specific demographics, political beliefs, and educational practices.

• Home-schooling families were the most likely to skip or delay shots, with 46 percent reporting they had done so.
• White, very religious parents had particularly high rates, with 36 percent reporting skipped or delayed vaccines, and 23 percent specifically skipping MMR or polio vaccines.
• Republican parents were also more likely to resist vaccines: 22 percent delayed or skipped a vaccine, compared with only 8 percent of Democrats.
• Age also played a role, with 19 percent of parents under 35 reporting skipped vaccines, compared with 12 percent of parents over 50.
• Democrats and Asian parents were among the least likely to delay or skip vaccines, with only 8 percent and 5 percent doing so, respectively.

Why Parents Say No

The reasons parents gave for vaccine hesitancy overwhelmingly related to safety fears and mistrust, rather than access or cost.

• 67 percent of hesitant parents cited concerns about side effects.
• 53 percent said they don’t believe vaccines are entirely safe.
• 51 percent questioned whether all recommended vaccines were even necessary.
• A smaller number, 42 percent, resisted because they didn’t want multiple shots given in one visit.
• By comparison, logistical barriers such as cost (5 percent), lack of time (9 percent), or difficulty scheduling appointments (9 percent) were rarely mentioned.

As one Arizona mother, Anna Hulkow, told The Post: “I don’t think my kids are worse off to get [chicken pox] firsthand.” Hulkow, who moved her family in part because of stricter school vaccine requirements in California, said she distrusts what she views as a profit-driven health care system.

Distrust of Federal Health Agencies

The survey underscores a sharp erosion of trust in federal institutions charged with vaccine safety. Just 49 percent of parents said they have confidence in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure vaccine safety and effectiveness, while 51 percent expressed doubt.

Confidence was highly polarized along party lines:

• 60 percent of Democrats said they trust the agencies.
• 48 percent of independents expressed confidence.
• Only 41 percent of Republicans said the same.

This skepticism has grown since the coronavirus pandemic, which politicized public health guidance and created space for misinformation to spread widely online.

The Influence of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The appointment of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines, has intensified debates. While Kennedy’s claims linking vaccines to autism have been repeatedly debunked by dozens of studies, the Post–KFF poll found that at least four in ten parents say they don’t know whether such claims are true or false.

Even without firm belief in Kennedy’s most controversial assertions, many parents expressed trust in his broader critique of federal vaccine policy. Among Republicans, 54 percent said they trusted Kennedy to provide reliable information about vaccines. Among parents overall, 36 percent expressed similar trust.

One Las Vegas mother, Imani Schaade, told The Post she believes vaccines contributed to her daughters’ autism and allergic reactions. While she ultimately vaccinated her son for school entry, she said Kennedy “created a wave of people coming out and being able to speak out about [vaccines], and people have an opinion.”

The “Mushy Middle”

While a small percentage of parents identify as explicitly anti-vaccine (6 percent), nearly half fall into what The Post calls a “mushy middle”, parents who vaccinate but express skepticism. These parents may agree to vaccines like MMR and polio but express doubt about flu or COVID-19 shots, or delay doses because they are wary of multiple shots in a single appointment.

In fact, 52 percent of parents did not vaccinate their children against the flu last year, even though flu shots have been widely recommended since 2010. And only 13 percent of eligible children received last year’s coronavirus vaccine, according to federal estimates.

Also Read: Unique Symptoms Of Flu In 2025 And How Long The Infection Lasts

What Public Health Experts Say

Public health organizations, including the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), continue to stress that recommended childhood vaccines are safe, effective, and extensively tested before approval.

“Delaying or spreading out vaccine doses leaves your child unprotected during the time when they need vaccine protection the most,” the CDC warns.

The AAP has also emphasized that natural infection, such as allowing children to contract chicken pox, carries risks far more serious than those posed by vaccines. Before the chicken pox vaccine was introduced, the disease killed between 100 and 150 Americans annually and hospitalized thousands more.

The Political Tension

While vaccine hesitancy is more common among Republicans, the poll found 77 percent of Republican parents still follow vaccine recommendations, including 84 percent who vaccinate against measles and polio.

That strong baseline of support has made vaccine mandates politically sensitive. A conservative polling firm recently warned GOP lawmakers that aggressively rolling back school vaccine requirements could be politically damaging, given that most Trump voters still believe vaccines save lives.

The Post–KFF poll found that 81 percent of all parents believe public schools should require measles and polio vaccines, with exceptions only for medical or religious reasons.

Parents Who Still Believe

Some parents told The Post they felt increasingly isolated in their communities for supporting vaccines.

Elizabeth Stratford, a retired ICU nurse and Republican mother of six in Utah, described her frustration:

“I’ve taken care of people with polio and with rubella and with measles in my 35 years of nursing, and I don’t know why anybody would ever want those diseases,” Stratford said. “If people knew what these diseases were about, they would probably be more responsible.”

What Comes Next

The Washington Post–KFF poll paints a mixed picture: strong support for foundational vaccines like MMR and polio, but waning trust overall, especially around flu and COVID-19 shots. Younger parents, white religious conservatives, and home-schooling families are leading the resistance.

Public health experts fear that if vaccine skepticism continues to spread, and if federal leadership amplifies misinformation, the United States could see the return of once-eradicated diseases.

But for now, most parents are still vaccinating, even if they have questions. The challenge for policymakers and health professionals will be to rebuild trust, counter misinformation, and remind parents of what’s at stake.

In an exclusive interview with People, the NFL Legend, Dan Marino shared how minor changes in body, which, usually go unnoticed lead to liver disease, like it did for him. Marino did not notice any symptoms in his routine checkup in 2007, but he did feel a "little fatigued". He also "was not rally working out as much as" he usually would. "These are the things I kind of noticed," he said, now, 64. "Then they told me I had a fatty liver. I had MASH."

What Is MASH?

It is a liver disease, short for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, which was formerly called the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. This happens when excess fat cells accumulate in the liver, causing chronic inflammation that leads to cirrhosis and liver cancer, as notes the Cleveland Clinic.

He informed People that the doctors "right away said that can be reversible, it can be taken care of". However, for him, it was to "work out" or to "lose weight", he noted.

The NFL legend is current part of Novo Nordisk's Unordinary Stories campaign, where athletes like him, share their unique health journey.

A Support System

Marino shared that his journey and health improvement also is credited to the support he got from his friends and family who helped him prioritized his health. Former teammate Terri Kirby also trained him at his nearby gym and his wife Claire joined him for night walks and bike rides. He also said in the campaign video that his wife helped him with "doctor's appointments, being on time, and making sure I'm doing things right".

Also Read: Every Year, They Return To Lake Minnetonka: Four Survivors Who Beat Cancer And Celebrate Life

Like most of us must have heard that it takes a village to raise a child, Marino echoes the same emotions. It does take a village to bring someone back to health too. "It is the people that love you and you love them. It feels like a little village," he says.

A Consistent Focus On Health

After his diagnosis, he soon realized that the focus on his health needs to be consistent. “It's the exercise, riding bike, walking, and diet, and then getting back to just being consistent — waking up and making sure you gotta do something every day.”

He also thinks that it is the diet that caused his MASH. He shared with People that while he played football, he had weigh-ins, but after he retired in 2000, he "kind of" let his diet go. "That's really where it kind of came about," he said.

A Diet To Fix

He shared that his doctor recommended him the Mediterranean diet to "cut back on the wine and pizza and candy, ice cream, those kind of things, you know - you can't eat those as much".

For people, he has a message: “if you get diagnosed with fatty liver and MASH, doing the things you need to do, like I talked about — diet, working out — and staying consistent with it, that's what our message really is.”

All such practices has made him get better. "I get the ultrasounds and all that every year, and so far it's been fine [and it is] gonna get better and better and better," he says.

Cholera, a disease so fatal that it can become severe within hours without treatment, was something we thought was not a big cause of worry. With proper measures, the cases of cholera were contained, however, recently we are seeing a worrying rise in the numbers again.

According to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO), the global situation with cholera is getting worse. In 2024, the number of people who got sick from cholera went up by 5%, and the number of people who died from it jumped by 50% compared to the year before. More than 6,000 people died from this disease, even though it's easily preventable and treatable. The real numbers are likely even higher, because many cases and deaths are never officially reported.

What is Cholera, How Is It Treated?

According to WHO, cholera is a severe sickness that causes watery diarrhea. It is caused by a germ called Vibrio cholerae, which people get from eating food or drinking water that has been contaminated with the germ.

Cholera is a big problem for global health, and its presence often points to a lack of clean water, proper sanitation, and overall development in a community. Access to safe drinking water and good hygiene practices are key to stopping cholera and other similar diseases.

Most people who get cholera have mild to moderate symptoms and can be treated with a simple solution called oral rehydration solution (ORS). However, the illness can get very bad very quickly, so it's crucial to start treatment right away to save lives. People with severe cholera need to be treated with fluids given directly into their veins, along with ORS and antibiotics.

What Is Causing The Increase In Cholera Cases?

Cholera is a disease caused by a type of bacteria that spreads through water contaminated with human waste. It's becoming more common because of several big problems around the world:

• Conflict and wars disrupt clean water systems and force people to move from their homes.
• Climate change can cause floods and droughts, which also affect water safety.
• Population displacement, or people being forced to leave their homes, often means they live in crowded camps with poor sanitation.

In 2024, 60 countries reported cholera cases, which is a big jump from the 45 countries in 2023. Most of the outbreaks (98% of cases) were in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The disease even came back to places like Comoros, which hadn't had an outbreak in over 15 years, showing how easily it can spread.

Is Cholera Preventable?

The report shows that many health systems are struggling to fight cholera. In Africa, the number of people who died from the disease went up, which shows there are problems getting life-saving care to those who need it. A worrying one-fourth of all deaths happened outside of hospitals, which means people couldn't get the treatment they needed in time.

To fix this, governments and aid groups need to make sure people have access to safe drinking water and clean toilets. They also need to share accurate information so people know how to protect themselves. During outbreaks, it's crucial that people can quickly get treatment and vaccines.

Is There A Vaccine for Cholera?

A new cholera vaccine called Euvichol-S® became available in early 2024, which helped the global supply. However, the world still doesn't have nearly enough vaccines to meet the demand. In 2024, countries asked for 61 million doses, but only 40 million were available. Because of this shortage, a temporary rule was put in place to give only a single dose of the vaccine instead of two, to make the limited supply last longer.

The WHO says the risk of cholera is "very high" globally and is working hard to reduce deaths and stop outbreaks. The crisis is expected to continue into 2025, with many countries already reporting new outbreaks.