Mary Tyler Moore with Larry King

[Momof4gr8kids]

This is kinda old, but I thought it was interesting. Jamie

Interview With Mary Tyler Moore

Aired July 1, 2005 - 21:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, Mary Tyler Moore. She can turn the world on with her smile. But she's also fighting a disease that could kill her. It's diabetes. A leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness, amputation, some 18 million Americans have it. The scary thing, a lot of them don't know it. Mary Tyler Moore, it's an hour that might save your life. It's next on LARRY KING LIVE.
She improves any screen she's on. She improves any room she walks into. She's Mary Tyler Moore, the award-winning actress, international chairperson of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I might also add that I'm on the board of that foundation.

She has Type I diabetes. She was last on this program about two years ago. That appearance was in advance of the 2003 Children's Congress.

How did the 2005 go?

MARY TYLER MOORE, INTERNATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION: Splendidly.

KING: What does it do, the Children's Congress?

MOORE: Well, we have 150 diabetic children who come to Washington and tell their stories before...

KING: All ages?

MOORE: All ages, from two to 17. They are really spectacular kids. And before Senator Sue Collins' committee, they tell what it's like for them at these various ages to live with this disease. And it is debilitating, and as you say, life-threatening.

KING: Are they lobbying?

MOORE: Yes, in a way they are. And they make the rounds. They see a few people, and tell them their stories, too.

KING: Do they have a specific goal this year?

MOORE: Yes. The goal is to -- as was passed in Los Angeles -- to get a bill that will allow for further stem-cell experimentation with the help from the federal government.

KING: Now, in California passed $3 billion to spend on this as a state.

MOORE: Yes, they did, indeed. Yes, right.

KING: But will you know...

MOORE: But we need the federal government. We need it to give us the boost, the impetus that we need to really get into these wonderful, promising experiments that have been going on. It's actually gone from the bench to the bedside. They are now treating people, human beings, and having some wonderful results.

KING: The House passed it.

MOORE: Yes.

KING: The Senate probably will pass it.

MOORE: Well, we're hoping. And it's been bipartisan. It...

KING: Except for the president, who is going to veto it.

MOORE: Well, yes. Then there's another chance, if we can get three-quarters of the Senate...

KING: To override.

MOORE: ... to override that.

But we're appealing to him once more to remind him this is not growing eggs to kill them. This is embryos who are the result of in- vitro fertilization. And there are over -- there are excess embryos.

And so we're just asking for the right...

KING: They'll never be babies, right?

MOORE: They'll never be babies. They are going to be discarded. They're going to be thrown away. They only need one. And the others have been, to a small degree, adopted. Some of the parents have saved them to have further babies later on.

But most of them are discarded. And so we are asking just to have those ones that are going to be discarded and save lives with them.

KING: And they're much more effective than adult?

MOORE: We're not sure about that. But they certainly hold promises that we don't see yet in adult stem cells.

KING: Now, aren't there other places in the world where stem- cell research is going on extensively and other places where it's being used?

MOORE: Yes, that's right. And the United States has always been the leader in medical research and in medical achievements. And our finest scientists are leaving the United States because of this restriction on stem cell use.

We're hopeful that that will be a factor in reconsidering the original dogma that said, "You can only use stem cells that were delivered prior to August of 2001."

KING: How do you react to the president, though? Does it hurt you? How do you feel?

MOORE: I understand his position. I really do. And I think he's been thoughtful in it.

KING: You do? It's a moral, religious position, right?

MOORE: Yes, I suppose so. But you know what? I'm kind of a right-to-lifer myself. And I still think that this is a form of giving life.

You have a wonderful opportunity, just as people who have lost a loved one in an accident, to grapple with that loss, but then give over some organs to save other lives.

KING: Specifically in diabetes, is there great hope that it will help diabetes?

MOORE: Yes, indeed, particularly in diabetes. There has already been, in the bench and now to the bedside, research that shows, with these cells, which can be trained to become almost anything -- they can be trained to become beta cell, which are what are killed by one's immune system and ceases to produce insulin. They can become new cells that can be a part of another human being.

KING: We haven't talked about diabetes specifically in a long time. So let's get into it. There's type I and type II. I have type II.

MOORE: You do.

KING: You have type I. Type I's worse.

MOORE: Type I requires insulin. I wouldn't say it's the worse, because you and I will have the same futures. They will be shorter than most people who don't have diabetes.

[Momof4gr8kids]

KING: I have almost -- I have no effects from type II diabetes. And when I have it...

MOORE: Do you take an oral medication?

KING: Yes.

MOORE: Yes, and you must exercise, and watch what you eat.

KING: Yes, but I do that anyway. Yes, I do. The big worry is the heart.

MOORE: Yes, the heart, the kidneys. KING: I have my eyes checked all the time.

MOORE: Right, right.

KING: Diabetes is what? How did you know you had it, by the way? Because it doesn't give you a warning sign.

MOORE: No, it did, but I didn't recognize it at the time. I was in the hospital because I'd had a miscarriage. And they did a routine blood test on me. Normal is between 70 and 110; mine was 750.

KING: Your blood reading?

MOORE: Yes.

KING: Nobody had taken your blood before that? They'd never done it?

MOORE: I think it may just have come on. It might just have presented itself in the few days or weeks before I went into the hospital.

But then I got to thinking, "You know, I had been dry in the mouth, and I had been feeling fatigued," but then I thought that that was just a result of being pregnant. So it was masked for a little bit.

KING: And then what? You were how old then?

MOORE: I was 33.

KING: So most case of juvenile diabetes, you know it as a juvenile, right?

MOORE: That's right, generally, yes.

KING: So what then do they immediately -- were you living?

MOORE: It just came on. And I don't know whether the pregnancy brought it on. They don't know what that other element is besides genetics or that my diabetes killed the pregnancy.

KING: What happens to you when you have diabetes? You what? You need insulin because?

MOORE: I need insulin to stay alive. It's just therapy to keep going. What I can do is make sure that I keep my blood sugar down to a reasonable level. I can exercise, and I can eat properly. And insulin plays a very big part in that.

And I have to be checked with the doctor to make sure I don't need another -- a different kind of dose. Sometimes you need to take a little bit more. And occasionally, you have low blood sugars, and then you have to pull back.

KING: And then you get dizzy. Do you inject yourself? MOORE: Oh, sure. Come on. You know, two-year-olds are almost doing it.

KING: Yes, but don't they have automatic pumps now that just inject you?

MOORE: You can do that. I don't have a pump yet. I may. But right now, I give myself the shot, and I don't mind doing that. I do it four times.

KING: A day?

MOORE: Yes. Yes. It's just like -- you know, it's like sitting down to the makeup table, and you've got this eye makeup you're going to put on, a drink of coffee. You know, it's part of your routine.

KING: Where do you shoot, in the stomach?

MOORE: No! In the hip, in the butt.

KING: Why do you yell at the stomach? I thought people...

MOORE: Because I think the stomach is so sensitive, don't you?

KING: I guess. I don't know. Why don't you do the pump? It does it automatically.

MOORE: Yes. Well, I just don't feel ready to do that.

KING: Mary!

[Momof4gr8kids]

MOORE: What? Do you have a pump?

KING: No, I truly don't need it.

MOORE: Well, don't look your nose down at me.

KING: But I would think -- I'm Jewish. I take the easy way.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Our guest is Mary Tyler Moore, the international chairperson of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. That's JDRF. They do great work. Lots to talk about. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOORE: As the Senate debates and votes on this stem-cell bill, I ask you to remember us, remember the stories we tell about injections and blood tests, about seizures, and blindness, and kidney failure, about what a cure really means to me and these courageous delegates and the millions just like us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At first, I thought diabetes was like a cold and that it would be gone in a week or so. Little did I know I would have it the rest of my life. I actually can't remember having a normal life without diabetes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: A little statistics here. Overall, more than 18 million Americans have diabetes, type I and II. That's more than 6 percent of the population. Diabetes is the single most costly chronic disease in the United States. $132 billion in health care costs every year.

MOORE: Right.

KING: More kids are getting it, though, right?

MOORE: Yes, it seems that way.

KING: Why, bad eating?

MOORE: I don't know. I don't know. It could be. Kids are more sedentary than they used to be. They're playing video games. They're watching television. They're not really getting out and playing baseball. Maybe that's part of it.

KING: What scares you the most?

MOORE: What next might happen to me. As I said, I've had problems with my eyes, and my legs hurt if I walk a great deal. That's due to very bad circulation. It's called claudication, and it's painful. So I have to stop if I'm walking, and pretending I'm looking in the window, so that I can rest them a little bit and then start off again.

For example, kidney disease. That could attack me or anybody else at any time. Blindness, I've been lucky enough to have some wonderful doctors who are really looking at me closely and doing what's necessary. I had a vitrectomy in the right eye.

KING: What is that?

MOORE: Well, there is behind your eye a thing called vitreous. And I don't know what its purpose is, but if you're having bleeds in your eye, it collects in the vitreous. And what they did was remove mine so that, if I have another bleed, it will drain out and be absorbed by the body.

KING: Do you ever get diabetic coma, people where they faint?

MOORE: No, no.

KING: You haven't had that?

MOORE: No, I haven't. KING: That does occur, though, right?

MOORE: Yes, of course, it does. And you can have some forms of epilepsy if your blood sugar runs too low.

KING: My diabetic doctor, her big concern is a heart attack.

MOORE: Yes, yes. But stroke, too, yes.

KING: This is not fun.

MOORE: It isn't. And you find that it becomes -- you know, I'm sort of was funny about, oh, the insulin shot is just a matter of putting on your makeup, getting ready for the day. It is not, because your life really does revolve around it. It revolves...

KING: You need it.

MOORE: Yes. You need it, and you need to constantly calculate. There is no more spontaneity in your life. You're constantly saying, "Now, when am I going to have dinner? What time will I take the injection? How am I feeling now? I'd better test my blood."

I do that five times a day. And everybody else does. You know, I'm not complaining, but I'm just answering your question.

KING: What can't you eat?

MOORE: Well, I can't eat pure sugar. I can't have candy. But you know when I can, is when my blood sugar dips very low.

KING: And then you can have a box of M&Ms.

MOORE: And then I can have a half a candy bar.

KING: Orange juice?

MOORE: Orange juice I have, as a matter of fact, every morning. And that's been calculated into the amount of insulin I take and the amount of exercise I do.

KING: Can people with diabetes have children?

MOORE: Yes, but they have to be very, very careful. You're probably going to be checking your blood every hour to make sure that it's not affecting the baby.

KING: Now, we should establish, insulin's not a cure.

MOORE: It is not. It's life support. That's all it is.

KING: Been around for years, right?

MOORE: Yes, it has, yes.

KING: Before it, people died, I guess? MOORE: They died. And some people who were suffering low blood pressure were put into what used to be called mental hospitals, because they couldn't figure out what was wrong with them.

KING: No kidding?

MOORE: Yes. We're not that far from really horrible conditions.

KING: Now, how's research done? What advances have been made?

MOORE: Well, the research is pretty stunning. They are being able now to stop the fast progression of these threats. They are now able to take newly diagnosed diabetics and, in some cases, prevent any of these.

[Momof4gr8kids]

KING: Are you optimistic?

MOORE: Oh, yes. Oh, very much so. I mean, yes, we've got to have the stem-cell research. We've just got to. We've got to continue with adult cells, also.

But you know, the need is very widespread within different ethnic groups, within tall people, short people, you know. There are all kinds of systems that require different things. Stem-cell research is what addresses that problem.

KING: We'll be right back with Mary Tyler Moore. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOORE: It means I have been ripped awake more times than I care to recall in a state of extreme distress caused by life-threatening low blood sugars. Ask my husband, Robert, who wakes up with me in the middle of the night to help me fight our 24-hour-a-day battle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD ASNER, ACTOR: What religion are you?

MOORE: Mr. Grant, I don't quite know how to say this, but you're not allowed to ask that when someone's applying for a job. It's against the law.

ASNER: Want to call a cop?

MOORE: No.

ASNER: Good. Would you think I was violating your civil rights if I asked if you're married?

MOORE: Presbyterian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We're back with Mary Tyler Moore. New research reported in the journal "Diabetes Care" says an inhaled form of insulin is as effective as injected.

MOORE: Is that right? I didn't know that.

KING: Yes, wouldn't you go for that?

MOORE: Well, sure, although I don't mind the shots, so -- you know, that's a nice advance, but it's not life-saving.

KING: You like those shots, Mary. It's coming through to me. You don't want the pump. You don't want the inhaler.

MOORE: They use such a thin needle now. You put it in your fattest part, which is hard to find on me.

KING: With you, where?

MOORE: And you don't feel it at all. Thank God for subcutaneous fat.

KING: What did you say?

MOORE: The fat that's just below the skin.

KING: Now there's a new drug, I understand -- research on a drug that preserves the beta cell function. Human clinical trials in Europe show that treating newly diagnosed type I diabetics with a drug called Anti-CD3 antibody can preserve...

MOORE: There is. That's very important.

KING: ... the residual beta cell function for up to 18 months. Meaning?

MOORE: Meaning that they can, with newly-diagnosed patients, create techniques of handling the diabetes better than ever before.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: ... for JDRF, right?

MOORE: Yes, yes. And it means that you can slow down the progression of the disease with this CD-3.

KING: Do you think one day you're going to see a headline...

MOORE: Yes, I do. I do. If I'm lucky.

KING: Because we haven't seen one since polio.

MOORE: Yes, that's right. That's right. I think it's possible. Stem cell, stem cell.

KING: You got to push this, though.

MOORE: Yes, you do. You do. And I would ask people out there who can write a letter to their congressmen that they do so, and ask them if they voted on behalf of this proposed bill. If they did, thank them. If they didn't, write to them and tell them why they should the next time they have the opportunity.

KING: This would be federal funding?

MOORE: Yes, federal funding.

KING: Now, the federal government doesn't stop private companies from doing it. Private companies can do it.

MOORE: No, not at all. There's nothing illegal about it, either.

KING: They don't states, since California -- right.

MOORE: But we need the money. We need it, not just for stem- cell research, but now that all clinical trials are going to the patient, they're far more expensive. So we need the money for that.

KING: And new research -- I'm reading here -- shows that, if diabetics control glucose, they lower their cardiac risks.

MOORE: Yes, that's true. That's what insulin does. That's what careful dieting does and exercise. It lowers -- and you've got to keep it in good control, though, because you might go a little too low, and that's not good, either.

KING: So when you -- when you're going to -- like, if you're going to eat dinner at 7:00. Do you know what you're going to have for dinner? Does that affect...

MOORE: Yes, yes, sort of. I know the food groups that I like to have and are good for me and those that I have to stay away from. And so I don't need to know exactly what I'm going to eat, but I take my insulin probably 20 minutes before I'm going to sit down. And I'm a vegetarian, too, which complicated matters.

[Momof4gr8kids]

It continues, and is pretty long. Since I hate to bring up ten posts to get it all I am going to put the address here, and you can read the rest there if you want.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/01/lkl.01.html

[allisa]

I did not realize he had type 2....

Haven't read the whole thing yet....but surprised at a few of her answers....especially saying that kids are so sedentary today ....perhaps that is why the increase.....oohhh.....

She really kind of glossed over the needles and pain element as well.....yes....the kids seem to get used to it....but it really does suck.....can't we get that message across ?

[cassandra]

yeah, the kids being sedentary thing... us type 1s aren't diabetic because we are sedentary! hey!:(

[Momof4gr8kids]

Yeah, some of it almost didn't seem like she understood the difference, or maybe she was just playing dumb. I hope she was just playing dumb, but I feel that she added to a lot of myths in this interview.

[cassandra]

yeah, like the whole sugar thing. what was that about? "I can't eat pure sugar. I can't have candy." i mean, it certainly isn't good for you, but she is not trying to watch her weight or anything, i mean, she is pretty thin...

[Momof4gr8kids]

Yeah, that could be because that is the way they managed D when she was dx'd, but you'd think the spokes person for the JDRF would know about the way D is managed today.

[lilituc]

Mary Tyler Moore follows the plan laid out in "Diabetes Survival Guide" by Stanley Mirsky. On his plan, mealtimes are set, diabetics are advised to only eat certain kinds of carbs (NO sugar, sweets, or quick-acting unless low). Carbs per meal are a set amount. Insulin doses are only adjusted by doctors, and not very often. Blood sugar testing is for the most part "unnecessary" according to the book. He definitely doesn't recommend 5 times a day, so it sounds like she's not following the plan in that.

Why does he advocate this plan? He says it works well for people such as actors because it makes it easy for them to manage their diabetes without having to think about it very much. They just select the foods on their list in the right amounts and they don't have to adjust or anything. Occasional testing verifies that they're in range, according to him.

Personally, I would never go on this plan and what I really think of it is best not expressed here, heh.

[Momof4gr8kids]

That explains a lot. I wonder if it works well, since so many things effect b/g's. I'd hate to have to call Julia's endo, though, every time a change needed to be made.

[EmmasMom]

More kids are probably getting juvenile diabetes because they're sedentary, eat "bad" and play too many video games... and they can not eat sugar or candy unless their blood sugar is low?????????
What the...
The only distinction she made between type 1 and type 2 was the need for insulin, that just doesn't cut it. I really hate it when the people that are supposed to be helping our cause are almost as misinformed as the general public! I think the JDRF needs to bring her up to date on current medical advice and technology before she has another interview! I would expect more from the JDRF, much more.

Last week when I was in LA I heard numerous PSA's telling parents to stop feeding their kids sugar and get them off the couch so they wouldn't become diabetic. That if you cared about your child's health YOU would prevent them from getting diabetes and prevent the horrible complications that are a result. Every time I heard one I wanted to scream!!!!!! Please somebody in TV/radio land make the difference between type 1 and type 2 clear, especially when you're talking about children!!!!!!!:mad:

[Twinklet]

I couldn't agree more, Amy. I was horrified at this transcript. It sounds like MTM is not only grossly misinformed about T1D, but isn't even fully aware of the newest treatments! This may sound harsh, but if she always comes across this way regarding T1D in the media, she is an embarrassment to the JDRF. I would think they'd make sure their celebrity spokesperson would be fully informed before allowing interviews that represent them.

[Momof4gr8kids]

Well, at least when she is speaking to congress she isn't as bad as on Larry King.

http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?page_id=101390

[EmmasMom]

Yes, thank goodness for great speech writers!!!!!;)

[Barry]

Does JDRF nominate/appoint a spokesperson for their lifetime or a specific period of time? I'm sure MTM needs a break and the cause a fresh face.

[Momof4gr8kids]

I agree Barry! It doesn't sound as if they have any plans to though, and she is on their board as is Larry King.