April
17 was the last day Tammy Faye made a posting to her personal website.
She wrote:
“I know that many of you already know what my situation is as you
heard me tell about it on Larry King…I have an egg size tumor just
above my left breast that has had both radiation and chemotherapy used
on it. The treatment killed the cancer we thought, until the last time
I had an x-ray that showed cancer activity in the top half of the tumor.
As I told you before for three months, I have been almost overwhelmed with
sickness. Thank God, as a result of your prayers the panic attacks have
subsided, I no longer have to clear my throat all the time and I have been
able to swallow so now I can eat again. My weight went from 116 down to
95 pounds — I’m not complaining! Ha! ha! As of this writing
I’m back up to 98. That is a good sign!”
There hasn’t been a posting since then. I haven’t been able
to confirm this — but I’ve heard through the grapevine that
she is currently at home, in hospice care.
That, of course, isn’t a good sign.
Many of us saw her on “Larry King Live” a few weeks back when
she talked about her ongoing struggle with cancer. A friend told me that
she was in Boris & Natasha a month or so ago and that she wasn’t
looking very well.
I’m worried.
I haven’t been able to contact her or her son Jay — so I have
no idea what’s going on.
I’m fearing the worst, but hoping for the best.
Tammy Faye has always been a survivor. As all of us — in the best
of situations — hope to be. In this case, I’m not confident
the odds are in her favor, but I’d like to hope — with the
power of positive thinking — that we can send some good energy her
way.
I have nothing but fond memories of the times I’ve talked with and
spent with her.
As a kid growing up in the Carolinas, the “Jim & Tammy Show” and
the “PTL Club” were a regular part of my video diet.
I can still recall afternoons after school on then independent Channel
36. The program she co-hosted with her former husband Jim Bakker, “The
Jim & Tammy Show,” was a mixture of variety entertainment that
included musical numbers and puppet shows. Tammy — at the time — sported
a moppet black wig with ponytails. Much more glamorous wigs lie ahead in
her future, of course.
A few years later the Bakkers set up shop on Park Road in a medium-rise
building near Park Road Shopping Center where they would begin the first
episodes of the fledgling “PTL Club.”
It was around that time that I had my first encounter with the Bakkers.
On a Sunday afternoon, at the Metrolina Fairgrounds Flea Market, I came
face to face with the woman who was legendary for her wigs, false eyelashes
and mascara.
She lived up to her reputation. In the middle of a hot summer day, she
was done up to the nines — both fashionably and cosmetically — from
head to toe.
I spilled the beans about how much I had watched “The Jim & Tammy
Show” as a younger kid, and that I continued to follow their current
programming from time to time. “You’re so sweet,” she
said, as she wrapped her arms around me.
I have to admit that I wasn’t exactly turned on by the overly religious
message presented by “The PTL Club,” but in hindsight I did
appreciate the fact that they never, ever took aim at the LGBT community
in a negative way. They maintained that philosophy throughout their tenure — even
once they hit the big time with “Heritage USA” and a move to
Fort Mill, S.C., where they set up a much larger production facility.
I wouldn’t have contact with Tammy Faye for another 15 years or so — not
until she released her second book — “Tammy Faye: Telling It
My Way.”
As a young and green freelancer for Creative Loafing in Atlanta, I jumped
at the chance to interview the woman who had played an integral part in
my childhood years.
“I’ve always loved shopping at bargain stores and flea markets,” she
told me at the time. “I’m not surprised we bumped into each
other at a flea market, you know I really like TJ Maxx,” she said. “ You
ever go shopping there? The next time you’re in Charlotte we should
go shopping together.”
We never got around to it, of course.
Another 10 years would pass before I would interview her for Q-Notes for
her latest book “I’m A Survivor — And You Can Be One
Too.”
When we talked again this time she fondly recalled the Creative Loafing
experience and a recent piece I’d done for Charlotte Magazine and
was excited to talk with me again.
“We’re back in Charlotte,” she said, “It’s
the place Roe and I feel most at home.”
A few months later we again met face to face at the Van Landingham Estate
for a party celebrating a television program she was doing with British
Channel TV-4.
“It’s nice to see you again,” she said off handedly. “How
do you like being back in Charlotte?”
“It’s great,” I replied, as we hugged each other. “And
great to see you again after all this time.”
Thanks for sharing so much love and for being you Tammy Faye. The whole
LGBT community is sending positive energy and prayers your way for a speedy
recovery.
David Moore Editor
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