|
 This
weekend on New York television, one of the most
senior and influential South Asians working in
U.S. television showcased her skills once again.
Jeelu Billimoria is a member of SAJA (South
Asian Association of Journalists) and winner of
more major TV awards than any other journalist
from this region. Her annual breast cancer special,
which was telecast on Saturday, October 4, 2003,
on WABC-TV, is a NY institution since she started
producing them in 1995.
Below
is a short write-up about her by SAJA's broadcast
outreach coordinator, Hari Sreenivasan, and an
account of her outstanding series on cancer.
This
SAJA broadcaster has been in the business since
1977 and has the
awards to prove it. From a start in Philadelphia,
to brief stints with the
McNeil-Lehrer Newshour hour (PBS), she's made
her home at WABC-TV for the last 14 years. Her
projects have earned her 8 Emmy awards, 6 Gracie
Awards, AP & Gavel awards and a Columbia DuPont
Citation.
As
senior producer of special projects, she has a
rare opportunity to work
on long form (half hour/ hour) pieces at a local
station. In the NY area,
you can watch Jeelu's work through the annual
"Protect our Children" and
"Breast Cancer" Specials (which she
Executive Produces) on WABC.
Billimoria
began producing Breast Cancer Specials for ABC-7
in '95 after
her sister-in-law passed away of the disease.
Ironically, she herself was
diagnosed with it in 1999.
She's
in good health, has two daughters and lives with
photographer
husband, Elliott Kaufman, on Manhattan's Upper
West Side.
This
article was written as a
project on the SAJA-Broadcast mailing list.
| Breast
Cancer: Road to Recovery |
|
WABC-TV, Saturday, October 4th, 7:30-8
pm
Host: Diana Williams
An
ABC-7 Special focuses on alternative and
complementary treatments that are helping
breast cancer survivors on the road to recovery.
While surgery, chemotherapy and radiation
are invaluable tools in the fight against
cancer, more and more women are discovering
that the healing process can also be speeded
up with proper nutrition, exercises such
as Yoga and fly fishing and touch therapies
such as acupuncture, reflexology and massage.
Each
year Americans spend more than $34 billion
on complementary and alternative therapies
and many of these are marketed specifically
to
people with cancer. Recognizing the enormous
public interest, the American Cancer Society
has commissioned studies on these and while
the therapies may not help to fight the
cancer, they can certainly help the
patient to feel better while recovering
from more mainstream medicine and it's effects.
This
special is part of ABC-7's continuing commitment
to the Making Strides against Breast Cancer
Campaign of the American Cancer Society
which is celebrating it's tenth anniversary.
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