Journalist Sievrers loses cancer fight

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Tributes poured into the National Public Radio Web site Monday for Leroy Sievers, the veteran journalist who reported on his own losing battle with cancer.

ABC's Ted Koppel said in a statement on the NPR Web site that Sievers, a onetime producer of Koppel's "Nightline" program on ABC, inspired courage in everyone with his blog about the struggle with the disease that killed him last Friday at the age of 53.

"Cancer was not in Leroy's plans," Koppel said. "But he turned his battle with cancer into the most dramatic, the most moving and the most important story of his life."

The Los Angeles Times said the blog "My Cancer" received more than 30,000 comments from readers over its two-year span.

Funeral services were still pending on Monday.