TV diary features priests

Rev. Lynn Griffin, a diocese of Ottawa priest who is on disability leave from St. Barnabas, Deep River, Ont., is the star of a special CTV weekly dairy about coping with cancer.

Called Lynn’s Diary: A battle with cancer, the item airs on Canada AM on Tuesdays between 8 and 9 a.m. EST and Sunday mornings on CTV Newsnet at 8:20 a.m. and 12:20 p.m. EST.

Ms. Griffin is shown on television both with and without her wig to show her hair loss, and also at times wearing a scarf.

First given the news of her cancer in December, 2001, Ms. Griffin said CTV was planning a feature film on people undergoing clinical trials of experimental cancer treatments. Her name was put forward as a possible subject, but after CTV viewed a diary item she sent in, the network decided it preferred her approach.

Ms. Griffin is filmed at home by her husband, Peter. She discusses the medical treatment, which began in June.

Her chemotherapy ended in early October and she said she expected radiation treatment would start in early December. Ms. Griffins will receive the radiation treatment five days a week for five weeks, in Ottawa.

CTV will continue to follow her story until she is “back to health,” she said. Ms. Griffin writes a column for her diocesan paper, Crosstalk, called The Healing Tree.