The Day The Big Call Came

Gary thought he had emphysema, but ended up preparing to fight for his life.

BY Gary Stromberg

PUBLISHED January 19, 2018

Gary Stromberg co-founded GIBSON & STROMBERG, a large and influential music public relations firm of the sixties and seventies. The company represented such luminaries as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Muhammad Ali, Barbra Streisand, Boyz II Men, Neil Diamond, Ray Charles, The Doors, Earth, Wind & Fire, Elton John, Three Dog Night and Crosby, Stills, & Nash. He also spent time in the film business co-producing movies such as Car Wash (Universal Studios) and The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh (Lorimar/United Artists). Stromberg has also written three books, The Harder They Fall (Hazelden - 2007) and Feeding the Fame (Hazelden - 2009) and a third book for McGraw-Hill Publishing, entitled Second Chances, which was published in 2011. He's currently working on a fourth book, She's Come Undone, for HCI Publishing, which will come out next spring.

I watched a comic make fun of her cancer on a TV Special the other night. At first it made me uncomfortable. "How many cancer victims does it take to change a light bulb?" she asked, "None, they're too weak to climb the ladder!" She was making jokes about cancer, but they were funny.

I too am a cancer survivor, but I still fear this evil disease, even though I was able to look it in the eye, comprehend its severity, and declare, "Bring it on, here I am." Eventually, through months of chemo and a life-saving bone marrow transplant, I was able to walk away, cured.

My skin crawls just a little when I say the word cancer. I still wonder if it is lurking somewhere in my body waiting for a chance to strike again.

Read More: