Class of 75 Battles the Bulge
By JOSE A. MARTINEZ -- Multichannel News, 11/12/2000 7:00:00 PM
If you're over 40, and have ever wondered how your well-being rates against your peers, the Discovery Health Channel series The Class of '75 is a fascinating look at fellow baby boomers as they deal with the various medical issues they've encountered since those carefree high-school days.
Greig Fields, 42, one of several members of the graduating class of High Point Senior High School profiled for this series, shares an increasingly common trait with many of his classmates (as well as this series' likely intended audience): an ever-expanding waistline as he lumbers past 40.
An executive at Compaq Computer Corp., Fields's weight has mushroomed past 300 pounds in the intervening 25 years. He faces a serious health crisis following a recent diabetes diagnosis. His personal "battle of the bulge" will be monitored on the show over the next year.
Kathy Neill, 43, a mother and an analyst with the Florida Department of Transportation, considers herself one of the lucky ones. Her doctors detected her breast cancer early and because of it, chances are good she'll survive the next five years. But the cost-namely, removal of one of her breasts-was high.
"This is major surgery," she said. "And you're always wondering, what am I going to look like afterward? Is my husband still going to find me attractive?"
Jeff Glovier, 43, a pack-a-day smoker, has inhaled for nearly half his life. Like many of his peers, he has a checkered record in his own battle against nicotine.
"I was off cigarettes for 10 or 11 years. Then I found out my mother was terminal," he explained. "I've been smoking ever since."
The Class of '75 follows these and several other classmates over the course of a year as they wrestle with the various issues they've encountered since high school, including long-term illness, chronic stress and children. Lending insight into the ups and downs along the road to health, the series highlights information from medical experts as the group attempts to reach their personal health goals. This four-part miniseries bows Nov. 13 at 8 p.m.
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