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Author Topic: Famous People with Lupus  (Read 153716 times)
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« on: February 17, 2006, 07:27:49 pm »

Ray Walston


Birth:   Nov. 2, 1914
New Orleans
Orleans Parish
Louisiana, USA
Death:   Jan. 1, 2001
Beverly Hills
Los Angeles County
California, USA
 
Versatile film and television Actor, whose work includes, "My Favorite Martian." He died in Beverly Hills, California, following a six year battle with lupus. He won a Tony for "water Yankees" (1958) and two Emmys. Born Herman Walston in Laurel, Louisiana, (some biographies give his birth place as New Orleans), he grew up in New Orleans, and started his acting career with a local stock company. His big break came in 1939, when he was cast in "The Front Page."

 He is remembered in such films as "South Pacific" (1958), "The Apartment" (1960), "Paint Your Wagon" (1969), "The Sting" (1973), and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982). All total, he appeared in 70 films and numerous television programs, including a three year run as Uncle Martin in TV's "My Favorite Martian" (1963-1966).

He won two Emmy Awards for his role in TV's "Picket Fence." His television roles include guest appearances on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Star Trek: Voyager", "Touched by an Angel", "7th Heaven", "Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman", "L.A. Law", "Night Court", "Starsky and Hutch", "Mission Impossible", and numerous other television shows.

His only staring role in a film came in 1964, when Peter Sellers was felled by a heart attack, and he was selected to replace him in "Kiss Me, Stupid" as a desperate songwriter

 
 

 Georgeanna Marie Tillman

Birth:   Feb. 6, 1943
Death:   Jan. 6, 1980
 
R&B Singer. She was a member of the 1960s all-girl musical group "The Marvelettes". The group formed in Inkster, Michigan, in 1960, and at times featured Gladys Horton, Wanda Young, Katharine Anderson, Anne Bogan, and Juanita Cowart.

 The group recorded on the Motown Record Label and the Tamla Record Label, while recording songs written by the likes of Smokey Robinson. In 1961 the group had there first hit with the release of, "Please, Mr. Postman," and a somewhat chart-topping hit in 1965 with the release of, "I'll Keep Holding On." The group continued to record music but broke up in the early 1970s. Tillman passed away at the age of 36 from the effects of lupus or sickle cell anemia
 
 


Charles Kuralt

Birth:   Sep. 10, 1934
Death:   Jul. 4, 1997
 
Television Journalist. He is best remembered for his series, "On the Road." He won 3 Peabody Awards and 11 Emmy Awards for his reporting. Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, the son of a social worker and a teacher, as a young boy he began his journalist career when he won an American Legion essay contest and a trip to Washington DC to meet President Harry Truman.

During his college years, he worked as student editor for the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill newspaper "The Daily Tar Heel."
While at UNC he would write on controversial topics and interview student radicals, and he campaigned for racial integration when it wasn't popular in the South. On April Fools Day 1954, he printed a parody edition of "The Daily Tar Heel," which lampooned Senator Joseph McCarthy and the anti-communist crusaders, which won him a file in the FBI's local office.

After graduating from college, he joined CBS as a news journalist, and was assigned to the Rio de Janeiro office. Rather than sit in his Rio office, he went out and interviewed the people, ranging from generals to rebels, peasants and politicians, including the mundane with the international crisis. In April 1962, he went to Cuba, where his report mostly considered Fidel Castro's revolution a failure, despite several promising changes. Accused of praising Castro and Cuban Communism, he was called upon to testify in July 1962 at the Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security, where he was cleared of any charges of boosting Castro's regime. Reassigned to the United States, Kuralt did manage to go to the Dominican Republic to report on the American intervention there in 1965, and his reports from there were considered some of his best.


In 1967, during the Vietnam War when much of the news very negative, he began a series called "On the Road," which interviewed mostly ordinary people, telling stories of American life. Kuralt died in New York City of lupus, an inflammatory disease that attacks the joints, kidneys and nervous system. His CBS colleague, Walter Cronkite, summed up Kuralt's life when he stated, "There probably wasn't a more patriotic or loving man in television or the country than Charles."
 
 
 
 

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« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2006, 03:58:40 pm »

MARY McDONOUGH'S VALIANT STRUGGLE WITH LUPUS


Mary McDonough has entertained audiences for more than 30 years on film, stage and television. She is most remembered for her role as "Erin" in "The Waltons." For over 25 years, television audiences have grown up with this 1930s family, struggling through a depression on Walton’s mountain. New audiences are still discovering the entire Walton family, with this Emmy Award winning show in specials and syndication.

In recent years, Mary has begun working behind the camera producing independent film projects, but her first love is still acting.

She maintains a very busy work regimen, and has appeared in numerous guest roles on such television series as Promised Land, Diagnosis Murder, ER, The Pretender, One Life to Live, General Hospital, and Picket Fences. Mary is also found regularly in roles on stage, in feature films, and made-for-TV movies.

In the late 1970’s the Lupus Foundation of America asked Mary to serve as a celebrity spokesperson. Lupus is a chronic disease that, for unknown reasons, causes the immune system to become hyperactive and attack the body’s own tissue and organs. At least 1.4 million Americans have Lupus, 90% of whom are women.

At the time she did not have lupus, nor was there a history of the disease anywhere in her family. She did not even know anyone who had lupus. So why, you might ask, did the Lupus Foundation want her to serve in this role? They thought she would be a good choice because she was in the age group (15 - 44) when women usually begin to develop symptoms of lupus.

She learned all that she could about lupus and spoke about the disease on television and in interviews with writers for news magazines. During her travels for the Lupus Foundation of America, she met many amazing, strong, and inspirational women who had the disease. The women she met were not just coping with Lupus, but were leading full and productive lives. She started to experience symptoms of lupus about eight years before a doctor finally diagnosed her with the disease. It is not unusual for people with lupus to suffer symptoms for several years because the disease is so hard to diagnose. There is no single test that can tell if a person has lupus.

When the symptoms first began, she just had the feeling of being "off." Mary did not have the same drive and energy she used to have. Later, she noticed a few rashes on her face, chest and back. She went to several doctors who dismissed her symptoms as anything serious.

Mary decided to see a dermatologist because a red rash had developed on her face, across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. The dermatologist treated the rash but never linked it to any specific cause.

Unfortunately, she since has learned that many fine doctors are unaware of the complexities of Lupus and how its many symptoms can mimic other common, but less serious illnesses.

Mary’s "off" feeling continued for several years eventually turning into extreme fatigue. The overwhelming exhaustion would come on like a freight train. She would want to lie down wherever she was and nap. She describes it as having VERY bad jet lag, the kind where you are very tired at strange times of the day as if you were drugged.

Mary also felt as if she had the flu, however it never went into a full blown flu and the symptom lasted for several weeks. Even her hair hurt like when a person has a very bad fever. The doctors also wrote these symptoms off as the flu.

 
No two people with Lupus have exactly the same symptoms and most do not experience all of them. The symptoms of Lupus include achy or swollen joints, fevers, fatigue, skin rashes, anemia, chest pains on breathing deep, hair loss, fingers turning blue in the cold, seizures, and mouth or nose ulcers.

As the years progressed, she experienced several of these symptoms. Mary knew something was wrong with her even though many different doctors never diagnosed her with anything out of the ordinary.

She started to feel as if she was a hypochondriac and doctors began to treat her as though she was a big cry baby. This made her feel even worse. She thought, "Maybe I am being a big baby." "Maybe I’m fine and I am only depressed." Mary started to go to therapy. Unfortunately, the symptoms continued.

She began to get sick after sun exposure, called photosensitivity. Her eyes became so sun sensitive that she had to forget going out into the sun without protection. SPF-40 sun block became her constant companion. Mary’s joints started to ache very badly and her muscles felt as if they had needles piercing through them. The extreme fatigue continued to drain her of all energy.

At this point, she was both lucky and unlucky at the same time. She was involved in a car accident and ruptured a disk in her back. Mary went to physical therapy and to a chiropractor but she did not get better. Her chiropractor decided she needed to see an orthopedic doctor.

Ironically, after going to several doctors, it was the orthopedic doctor who told her that she had too many symptoms to attribute them just to a bad back. She ordered a series of laboratory tests used to diagnose Lupus. The test results revealed that she had an elevated level of antibodies that attack the body’s own cells. Finally, she had a clue that something was wrong with her.

Mary went to see a Rheumatologist but she did not diagnose her with Lupus right away.

During this time Mary had another mixed blessing. In 1991, she became pregnant. A woman with Lupus often has no symptoms of the disease while she is pregnant. Unfortunately, she did not know, at the time, that the disease can flare up in a woman immediately after she gives birth. She had a horrible post birth experience lasting five months. Once again she thought it was just her and she was crazy to think something was wrong. Especially since her obstetrician said she was not "adjusting well to motherhood." "Perhaps he was right?" She felt like a horrible failure.

Mary pleaded with her Rheumatologist to explain why she was feeling so sick all of the time. She waited for several more years feeling as if she was crazy while being monitored by her doctor. After years of suffering horrible symptoms and emotional devastation, she finally received a diagnosis of Lupus.

Later, Mary found another rheumatologist in Los Angeles, Dr. Daniel Wallace, and read his wonderful book on the disease called "THE LUPUS BOOK." It helped her to understand lupus and how doctors can treat it. She began to take medications and she started to feel better than she had in many years.

Mary prefers to use a natural healing process. She tried practically every multi-level marketing concoction available including creams, herbs and vitamins. Unfortunately, some of them made her feel worse. Several drugs, herbs and foods can harm people with Lupus by causing the disease to flare. People with Lupus must consult with their doctor before beginning to use complementary therapies.

In addition to Lupus, Mary has Fibromyalgia (painful muscles) and Sjogrens Symptom (a collagen disorder causing dry mouth, eyes or skin). She is now under the care of a great doctor whom she trusts and feels safe. This is so important for her and has made a big difference in her health. She no longer feels crazy.

When Mary first "came out" about her Lupus, people told her that she should keep quiet for fear that It would ruin her career. They told her to keep it a secret because employers are afraid to hire sick people. Well, she couldn’t do that--it’s not her way.

It’s ironic. Mary began her association with lupus while a young actress serving as a "celebrity spokesperson" to educate people about the disease. Who could have imagined, at that time, that she would be doing the same thing as an adult actress, only this time speaking from personal experience. Mary can educate people about Lupus much better now because of all that she has been through with the disease.

« Last Edit: October 07, 2006, 06:41:09 pm by ♥ Supreme Queen Goddess ♥ » Logged


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« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2006, 04:16:59 pm »

Barbara Enright 
Legendary Female Poker Player 
   
Barbara Enright, is a legend among poker players.  She is the quintessence of a woman who championed her way into a once-dominated field of masculinity, and gained respect and a wide array of elite accomplishments along the way.

She began playing poker when she was a mere four years old.  She used to play five card draw with her older brother, and when he would win, she would cry. Barbara has come a long way since that time and holds the record of many firsts for women in poker. 

She is the only female to date that has ever made the final table at the World Series of Poker championship event, when she came in fifth in 1995.  She is also the only woman to ever win an all around best player award, when she won that title at in the Legends of Poker in 2000, and she is the first woman to ever win a championship in a World Series of Poker major open event when she won the Pot Limit Hold’em event in 1996.

Barbara has three World Series of Poker championship bracelets among her long list of poker achievements and awards. 

In 1976, Barbara was diagnosed of having Lupus, a disease that affects the immune system, but her energy and spontaneity is that of a teenager, and her disease is not something that many are aware of.

  In 2005, Barbara beat out 95 percent of the field in the World Series of Poker main event.  She won her way into the 10,000 buyin through a $10 online satellite, and won over 24 thousand dollars.

She recently was the technical director for National Lampoon’s Strip Poker, can be seen in an upcoming production called “Poker Faces, “ and will be featured on GSN”s Poker Royale: Battle of Ages.

She has been a tournament host, and has appeared as a guest on “A Current Affair,” “Inside Edition,” and a discovery channel’s “High Roller.”

Barbara is also an accomplished writer, and a motivational speaker.  She is the editor-in-chief of Woman Poker Player magazine, and is well known for her humorous anecdotes, and leading women to be more assertive both on the felt, and in life.
 
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I look normal, as I have an "Invisible Illness". You can not catch it, you can not see it. It's called Lupus.My body is attacking itself on the inside.
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« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2006, 04:27:32 pm »

JUNE EASTON
Died Apr. 2, 2005

Actress June Easton died of lupus at age 72. Ms. Easton was the wife of actor Robert Easton. She was a dialect coach at her husband’s firm "Henry Higgins of Hollywood Inc." Robert Easton is considered one of the top dialect coaches in the film industry. He teaches over 80 different dialects. Clients have include such greats as Laurence Olivier and Gregory Peck. Ms. Easton appeared in several films with her husband including "Paint Your Wagon," "Tai-Pan" and "Timber Tramps."
« Last Edit: October 07, 2006, 06:33:00 pm by ♥ Supreme Queen Goddess ♥ » Logged


I look normal, as I have an "Invisible Illness". You can not catch it, you can not see it. It's called Lupus.My body is attacking itself on the inside.
www.LupusMCTD.com Represents:
1) We are patients helping researchers build a future for the lives of others...
2) Where HOPE is a WORK In Progress
3) Pay It Forward~Giving Back To The Future Lupus/MCTD Patients
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« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2006, 04:36:47 pm »



Michael Wayne stands beneath a statue of his father, actor John Wayne, outside the Great Western Building in Los Angeles, in this June 17, 1991 file photo. Wayne, the eldest son of late actor John Wayne who helped produce several of his father's films,died April 2, 2003. He was 68.

BURBANK, Calif. (AP) - Michael Wayne, the eldest son of late actor John Wayne who helped produce several of his father's films, has died. He was 68.


Wayne died of heart failure Wednesday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center following complications from lupus, an immune system disease, publicist Warren Cowan said Thursday.
He was the head of Wayne Enterprises, which owns many of his father's films. Distributing the movies and merchandising his father's image occupied much of Wayne's time, along with real estate and other investments. He also was chairman of the board of the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John's Health Center. John Wayne died of lung cancer in 1979.


He said in 1991 that there were both advantages and drawbacks of having such a famous father, but "the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. I produced 'McClintock!' when I was 25 years old. I don't think if I wasn't John Wayne's son, I would have had that opportunity. It wasn't all smooth, working with my father; there were a lot of bumps along the way, both for him and me," he said. "But I wish he were still around so we could get in arguments."


Among the films Michael Wayne helped produce were "Brannigan" (1975), "The Green Berets" (1968), "Big Jake" (1971) and "The Train Robbers" (1973). Wayne graduated from Loyola University of California in 1956 and served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Gretchen; his mother, Josephine Alicia Saenz; two brothers; three sisters; five children; and two grandchildren. [/b]
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I look normal, as I have an "Invisible Illness". You can not catch it, you can not see it. It's called Lupus.My body is attacking itself on the inside.
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« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2006, 07:13:48 pm »

Mussani learns to control Lupus
Salimah Mussani

(CP) - There was a time not so long ago when being able to play golf a couple days in a row was victory enough for Salimah Mussani.
Lupus often left her feeling lethargic as the incurable disease caused joint pain, skin rashes and swelling in her hands - symptoms that were only exacerbated by a profession that saw Mussani constantly travelling and under stress. "I'd have a couple good days and then be totally worn out," she said this week. "It's tough to find any consistency when you feel like that."

Consistency has come in the form of three victories this summer for Mussani, who has been the beneficiary of new medication and a little maturity.
The 26-year-old from Burlington, Ont., started taking the drug Cellcept about two years ago and found herself feeling better. She's also made sure to rest often.
"I've learned to manage myself better," said Mussani. "Even if I don't always think I need a week off, I take a week off. It's so important to re-energize my batteries and look after myself."
Clearly, it's working.

Mussani won the CN Women's Tour event in Barrie, Ont., in May before taking the Michelob Players Championship - the only major on the U.S.-based Futures Tour - a few weeks later.
She topped it off by winning the Canadian Tour event in Ottawa earlier this week. Mussani was so dominant that she missed only three greens over two rounds at Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club and was eight shots better than anyone else.
"It was just very relaxing," Mussani said of her latest win. "I was telling my caddy (fellow Futures Tour player Lisa Fernandes) that the game just feels simple right now."
It's the kind of zone every golfer dreams of.

Mussani hopes it continues as she prepares for two upcoming LPGA events. She'll play the CN Canadian Women's Open in London, Ont., from Aug. 10-13 and the State Farm Classic in Illinois from Aug. 31-Sept. 3.
She's played only one previous LPGA event (the 2003 U.S. Women's Open) and is eager to prove that she can compete with the best.
"It will be a good test for me to see where I stand," Mussani said. "Just having an opportunity to go out there and play with the top players and see what I can do.
"It's where I want to be."
It's been a long time coming.
Mussani was diagnosed with Lupus in 2000 while playing collegiate golf at Stanford.

After turning pro, she struggled as much with her health as her golf game. Mussani routinely had to withdraw from tournaments and even spent the night in a Florida hospital last November before playing in the tour's qualifying tournament.
Her best finish in four seasons on the Futures Tour had been 27th before breaking through this year.
"This girl does not quit," her father Anil Mussani has said. "It's been very difficult with the Lupus. She has the talent, but I think her health has held her back for a long time."

With that under control, few women have been better than Mussani on golf's mini-tours.
She plans on playing all the remaining Futures Tour events except the one held at the same time as the Canadian Open. Mussani is 11th on the money list and would earn an LPGA card for next season if she could get into the top five.
Either way, she's feeling much better about her situation after struggling for so long.
Mussani has earned $10,000 on the Canadian Tour and another $18,794 US on the Futures Tour so far this summer.
"I'm not breaking the bank but at least I can afford to start eating at nicer restaurants than Taco Bell," she said with a laugh.



HometownBurlington, Ontario
Birth Date8/15/1979
BirthplaceOntario, Canada
CollegeStanford University
DegreePsychology
Turned Professional2002
Joined FUTURES1/14/2003
Career Earnings$22,623
Career Best Finish1st



Profile
Two-time winner of the Ontario Junior Championship (1995, 1996).
Two-time winner of the Canadian Junior Championship (1996, 1998).
Winner of the 1997 Texas 5A Championship.
Recorded five top-10 finishes in collegiate competition.
Finished second at the 1999 Big Ten/Big 12 Shootout.
Member of the 2000 NCAA Women's Golf Championship runner-up team while at Stanford University.
Competed in the 2003 U.S. Women's Open Championship.
Recorded one win on West Coast Ladies Golf Tour (2004).



Year Events Best Finish Top 10 Cuts Made Earnings(Rank)Average Score(Rank)

200314T275$1,394  (120)75.76
(89)
20048T367$1,895  (109)74.32
 
200511T374$540  (155)76.54
 
*2006*81st18$18,794  (11)71.84
(6)



Career VictoriesPurseScoreEarnings
2006 Michelob ULTRA Duramed FUTURES Players Championship - Decatur, Ill.$100,000272(-16)$14,000 


2006 Finishes
TournamentDate Score Finish Earnings
Louisiana FUTURES Classic (Lafayette, LA)April 7 - 974-76-72 222T16$1,022 
The Power of a Dream FUTURES Golf Classic (Frisco, TX)April 21 - 2372-67-77 216T28$525 
Jalapeno FUTURES Golf Classic (McAllen, TX)April 28 - 3076-68-72 216T14$1,207 
Tucson Duramed FUTURES Golf Classic (Tucson, AZ)May 12 - 1466-73-69 208T29$462 
Team WLF.org Golf Classic (Saint Anne, IL)June 9 - 1176-73-71 220T21$832 
Michelob ULTRA Duramed FUTURES Players Championship
  (Decatur, IL)June 15 - 1867-70-68-67 2721st$14,000 
Lima Memorial Hospital FUTURES Classic (Lima, OH)June 23 - 2577-68-72 217T67$154 
Horseshoe Casino FUTURES Golf Classic (Hammond, IN)June 30 - July 269-80-76 22529th$592 






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I look normal, as I have an "Invisible Illness". You can not catch it, you can not see it. It's called Lupus.My body is attacking itself on the inside.
www.LupusMCTD.com Represents:
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« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2006, 09:59:08 am »

Biography~Ted Turner
American entrepreneur, one of the 400 wealthiest persons in the U.S., worth over $6.9 billion and the owner of Turner Broadcasting, CNN, two sports teams and some of MGM, a self-made mogul. Controversial and bombastic, he is known as "Ted the Terrible," "Captain Outrageous" and "Mouth of the South."

Tending to talk first, think later, he is hard-drinking and loves attention. His dad, a driven, demanding man who pushed Turner to do more, committed suicide at age 53. He lost his only sister to lupus in the 1980's.

 A super-patriot and iconoclast, he was raised by his dad to view insecurity as the secret of success. When his dad shot himself to death on 3/05/1963, Turner took over the bankrupt family billboard business. Gradually, he moved into his entrepreneurial position in TV stations and baseball teams.

While a student at Brown University, Turner developed a passion for the classics and immersed himself in Virgil and Homer. He had come to see himself as a kind of latter-day Odysseus who feels that his life will end before its time. His major battles have been against nuclear weapons and for peace, population control and environmental causes.

Approaching sports with the intensity that he puts into all his projects, Turner bought the Atlanta Braves baseball team in 1966 and the following year, the Atlanta Hawks basketball team. An avid ocean racer, he holds four Yachtsman of the Year titles. He organized the Goodwill Games, international athletic competitions that began in 1986 in Moscow. The second games featured more than 2,500 athletes from 40 nations competing in 21 sports, set in Seattle, WA, 1990. As the founder of CNN television, he transmits low-cost sports and entertainment programs via satellite to cable systems across the country.

He was married to Janie Smith Turner for 22 years. A womanizer, he went through several marriages. After his first divorce, from Judy Nye with two kids, he married a second time, to Jane Smith, on 6/02/1964; three kids. A twosome with Jane Fonda in 1990, they married on 12/21/1991 in northern Florida. An unlikely couple, both with strong egos and commitments, they nonetheless were a power-pair and seemed to fit together until 1/04/2000 when they announced their separation, saying that they had reached a juncture "where we must each take some personal time to ourselves."

They had often been pictured on one of Turner's nine massive ranches, including a 107,000-acre ranch in Montana, a 350,000-acre ranch in New Mexico and a 578,000-acre ranch spreading over New Mexico and Colorado. Over the years he and Fonda have vied for the reputation of the one most apt to put their foot in their mouth, she with her anti-Vietnam war protest and he with his public jokes that the Pope should eliminate the commandment against adultery as being out of date. Both are high-energy people, strongly committed to their beliefs. Though Fonda is worth a $670 million aerobics and fitness empire, Turner married to the tune of an iron-clad pre-nuptial contract. His philanthropy includes a donation of one billion dollars to the UN on 9/19/1997.

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« Last Edit: October 07, 2006, 10:49:58 am by ♥ Supreme Queen Goddess ♥ » Logged


I look normal, as I have an "Invisible Illness". You can not catch it, you can not see it. It's called Lupus.My body is attacking itself on the inside.
www.LupusMCTD.com Represents:
1) We are patients helping researchers build a future for the lives of others...
2) Where HOPE is a WORK In Progress
3) Pay It Forward~Giving Back To The Future Lupus/MCTD Patients
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« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2006, 10:03:18 am »

The talented Kellie Martin lost her younger sister, Heather, to lupus in 1998.
Best friends growing up, the two girls survived their parents' divorce together. Her sister encouraged Kellie in her acting career. Shortly after Heather's sophomore year of college, she got what the doctor thought was the flu. As her sympoms got worse, the doctor gave her medication to which she was allergic and she had convulsions. Thus began the nightmare that ended with her tragic death a short time later.

Realizing it must be more than the flu, Kellie and her mother took Heather to another doctor who diagnosed the lupus and began a course of treatment


****************************

The Symptoms of Lupus-
Don't Let Your Doctor Misdiagnose Them

This is a transcript from an interview with Kellie Martin by Diane Sawyer.

****************************

LEAD IN:

Diane Sawyer: We're going to be talking with Kellie Martin from ER this morning. But this is a personal story. It is a medical story about her sister, Heather. Who was dx'd [diagnosed] with lupus too late for help. We don't hear alot about lupus but more than a million Americans have it. It is extremely difficult to dx the first time so we want you to hear what she has to say & also our Medical Editor, Dr. Tim Johnson.

INTERVIEW

Diane Sawyer:Kellie Martin is here to talk about a great loss in her life. The death of her 19 year old sister, Heather, from lupus. [shows a picture of the 2 of them] Lupus is an autoimmune disease. For unknown reasons it causes the body to attack it's own organs & tissues. It strikes five times more women than it does men & especially those of child bearing age and also African Americans. And over & over again *good* doctors fail to dx it. Kellie Martin found out about all of this the hard way. And she is speaking out about it now during Lupus Awareness Month. Hoping others wont have to face it.

Kellie Martin: The symptoms of autoimmune diseases are so erratic. They come & go. With my sister, we just came to came to accept them as part of Heather. Heather just sleeps in and she has rosey cheeks. You know... that's just Heather. And now we know that that wasn't just part of her personality, that it was actually an illness. And it was never recognized until she just got so sick....the the symptoms just tumbled on top of each other so that she couldn't get out of bed. And that's what we don't want to happen. We don't want it to ever get to that point for anyone.

D.S.: Because two weeks before....She was fine. Right?

K.M.: Yes, fine. 19, taking her finals, absolutely fine. Just one morning she couldn't get out of bed. She had never been sick in her life. I mean, that's the strange, strange thing about what happens. I can only compare it to like a car accident. It just like (she claps her hands together) you know.....happens. It was just constant after that. I mean, she was...was just constantly sick after that. And that shouldn't happen. I mean we should know to look for.....things like rosey cheeks. That that's a sign of possible lupus. They put up a chart

[SOME OF] THE SYMPTOMS OF LUPUS


Fatigue
Joint Pain
Bruising
Rosy "butterfly" rash across nose & cheeks
Voiced over by D.S.: She also says it is a chronic disease that can go into remission. But there is no cure.

K.M.: I didn't know what lupus was...at all. I mean when I found out she had lupus I was too afraid to learn about it because *sigh* you know, you don't want to know about how bad it could possibly be. I mean, I'm not dumb....I'm a [smart] person.... But that was immediately what I thought of. Oh! There's a cure for this....there has to be a cure...It's not Leukemia.....It's not that bad..... But, there is no cure for this. When Heather was in the hospital, she looked beautiful.... because of this rash. And it's so deceiving, you know. It's just a sign of this war that's going on inside your body.

Voice over by D.S....[also] pictures of Heather & Kellie...Her sister's *war* included dehydration, kidney failure, a respiratory breakdown, liver & bone marrow malfunctions. Details that are too painful for her to remember about a baby sister she says who was never even afraid of the dark.

Cut back to Kellie...

K.M.: The first 5 to 7 doctors didn't get it. They said, "We don't know what it is...We'll just treat her for her pain." And that's all they treated her for.

D.S.: At this point it was acute pain

K.M.: Yes, Acute pain. Acute abdominal pain & muscle pain throughout her body. Mostly abdominal pain was the worst for her. I mean they thought it might have been an infectious disease....like tropical something or other. They didn't think to look to an autoimmune disease. Until very, very late in the game....Too late in the game.

D.S.: What did your sister say to you when she got the dx?

K.M.: I came in the room & she said, I have lupus. I said, "That's OK!!! That's OK!! That's GREAT! I mean, we know what it is...I mean, we can deal with this!" (She said all of this smiling like she was happy at the time. Then became serious once again.) But there is no cure for autoimmune diseases. There are only ways to make you feel better.

D.S.: And when did the two of you confront that?

K.M.: We actually didn't get to. Because she became sick enough that we couldn't actually talk to her. She was sedated. But we never....we didn't have a chance to deal with it as a...uh...a..*sigh*...you know how people deal with an illness? and, and.. fight an illness? It really was...it happened so fast to us that it wasn't even....we weren't even able to fight. And that's why I'm here. Because I want people to be able to figure out what it is that is wrong with them. And so many women, they just need to know that this is a womans problem. A health issue that they need to be aware of. No one should ever, ever have to go through this. (shaking her head)...ever.

D.S.: Tomorrow Kellie Martin will be here again to talk about Life after her sister's death & how returning to ER Helped in the healing process.

----------------------

INTERVIEW WITH DR. TIM JOHNSON

Charlie Gibson: We just heard actress, Kellie Martin talking about her sister's sudden & agonizing death from Lupus. This summer we also talked, as you may recall, to Oakland A's outfielder, Tim Raines about his battle with the disease. And so to help us better understand this illness our Medical Editor, Dr. Tim Johnson, is here with us this morning. Tim, I must admit I had never heard of lupus until just a few years ago. When the first family's dog, the Bush's family dog, Millie, was dx'd with lupus. But, obviuosly this is very prevelant, much more so than I ever realized in humans. [As far as] typical symptoms, Diane mentioned some, but you should run through them again.

Dr. Tim Johnson: Well, the truth is that this autoimmune disease can affect almost any organ or system in the body. So, the potential of symptoms is almost endless. But we've got some of the more common ones that will show up:

Chart...COMMON SYMPTOMS OF LUPUS


Fever Fatigue/malaise
Appetite loss/weight loss
Butterfly rash
Nose/mouth sores
Voice over by T.J. The first three symptoms are common with many other diseases. So, it is obvious why it often isn't diagnosed in the early stages...The Butterfly rash is much more distinctive. And then there can be sores elswhere on the body. The truth is ANY body system in the body can be affected

Chart Continues...


Eye Problems
Joint Pain
Kidney Problems
Painful Breathing
(Seizures)
Voice over by T.J. Joint pain is often misdx'd as arthritis. Kidney problems can be quite severe. Problems with the lungs, heart, nervous system changes in the mental accuity, etc. It really is tough to dx in the early stages. Because it mimics so many other potential problems.

C.G.: I was gonna say....Those are really very general symptoms with the exception of that rash sounds very specific.

T.J.: Fortunately, there are, now, some blood tests which will help to diagnose it in combination with symptoms. The point is, of course, that the earlier it can be dx'd the more effectively it can usually be treated. Now, sometimes those rare fulminate courses that can lead to death within weeks or months probably couldn't be treated even with an early dx. But the vast majority of people with lupus will have a pretty normal lifespan. 85% survive at least 10 years. So, It's treatable even though it isn't curable.

C.G.: I was gonna say, Tim Raines said to me, he was on a very agressive treatment with steroids & anti inflammatories. Those who die from the disease...They simply don't respond to those drugs?

T.J.: That's basically it. Steroids are the main stay of treatment. Other drugs can be tried in place of, or in addition to, steroids. And when people succumb to this disease it's because these treatments don't work effectively enough. But, again, I stress that the majority of people with this disease will have a very long and fairly normal life.

C.G.: Genetic link?

T.J.: Yes, it tends to run in families. If a mother has it her daughters are at risk, her sons are at greater risk. But, it can occur in anyone for the first time in a family.


(end of transcript)

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« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2006, 10:35:08 am »

Greta "Gigi" Garner grew up in Brentwood, California, attended Westlake School for Girls and then attended film school at the University of Southern California.

"Ever since I was little," Greta explains, "everyone has called me by my nickname, which is "Gigi." My mom wanted that to be my first name, but my dad said that would be OK if I grew up to be a stripper, but if I grew up to be a rocket scientist that 'Dr. Gigi Garner' didn't sound very professional! So, now that I am grown up, (39 and holding .... and holding ... and ... ) I switched to my real name, which is Greta."

Grown-up Greta has been a recording artist in England, a staff songwriter at Word Records, writing three number 1 songs in 1995). Also a licensed private investigator, she did "original research" for her book The Cop Cookbook 

Says Greta, "I guess you could say I'm a "Jack-lyn" of all trades!"


Actor James Garner, who has a special message regarding lupus, the disease that has affected his family personally. Daughter Gigi has suffered from lupus for years and is an important member of the Lupus LA team. **Note, Mr Garner is wearing the orange bracelets, "Get Into The Loop" from last years campaign. (I have many still available $1 each + postage)

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« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2006, 10:45:57 am »

"Rock" Raines, with his infectious laugh and exciting aggressiveness, became a fan favorite wherever he went. Over the 1980s, Raines was inextricably linked to Rickey Henderson, because of their similar ages and the havoc they wreaked on the basepaths. But while Henderson gained more fame by stealing more bases, Raines' percentage was generally higher. And even though baseball played a slight second fiddle to hockey north of the border, Raines was instantly recognizable on the streets of Montreal. At the end of his career, after a spurt of leg injuries and a terrifying bout with lupus, the muscular leadoff man had made a strong case for the Hall of Fame, with over 800 stolen bases, 1,500 runs, and a .294 lifetime average.

Raines achieved early stardom in the American Association as a second baseman while earning the batting title with a .354 average and being named The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year in 1980. Converted to the outfield for his official rookie campaign in 1981, Raines captured the first of four straight stolen base titles with the Montreal Expos and finished a close second in the Rookie of the Year Award voting to Dave Righetti at the end of the season. That early-'80s Canadian team was a powerful configuration of ballplayers, a far cry from the cash-stricken lot of the '90s. Though they only reached postseason once in the strike-ravaged 1981 season, with Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Steve Rodgers, and Jeff Reardon teaming with the speedy outfielder, the Expos were not to be taken lightly.

Like a handful of players and celebrities in the go-go '80s, Raines found his way to cocaine even in the upper reaches of Montreal, and underwent rehabilitation following the 1982 season. After two months in a treatment center, the outfielder was back on track and found comfort in his wife and son, Tim Jr., who would one day follow in his father's footsteps.

Raines reached career highs in steals (90) and runs (133) in 1983, leading the NL in both categories. Over the next four years, Raines averaged a .323 batting average, and just over 66 stolen bases and 108 runs scored. In 1986, Atlanta pitcher Rick Mahler acknowledged how much Raines could rattle a moundsman, calling the leadoff hitter "the best offensive player in the league besides Dale Murphy."

Opting for free agency after his 1986 batting championship season, Raines found that the baseball owners' collusion on free agents left him without an offer. He returned to the Expos in May 1987 with neither spring training nor a warm-up stint in the minors, homered in his first game, and led the NL with 123 runs scored for a second year in spite of the missed time. Replacing the departed Andre Dawson in the three-slot in the lineup instead of hitting in his usual leadoff spot, Raines also hit a career-high 18 homers. However, his new position in the order forced him to relinquish some of his aggressiveness on the basepaths, and he stole 20 fewer bases than in 1986.

The following year Raines was hampered by injuries, including his first-ever trip to the disabled list, as his average dipped to .270 for the first time in his career and his 33 stolen bases were the fewest he had recorded in a season. After two more years with the Expos, Raines was traded with Jeff Carter to the Chicago White Sox for Ivan Calderon and Barry Jones in December 1990.

Under the management of Jeff Torborg, Raines was pushed back up to the number one slot to to replace the unreliable Lance Johnson. Though he recorded "just" 51 stolen bags, Raines crossed home over 100 times for the first season since '87. Despite losing a month and a half with a torn thumb ligament in 1993, he helped push the White Sox to the postseason, while batting .306 with 21 stolen bases in 115 games in the regular season. The leadoff man led Chicago regulars in batting in the ALCS, with a .444 clip against the Toronto Blue Jays, but it wasn't enough to keep the steamrolling Jays from advancing to and winning the World Series.

However, Raines' initial dream of batting leadoff for the White Sox in front of run producers like Frank Thomas and Robin Ventura soon turned bitter. Rock's slide to a .266 average with 13 stolen bases in 1994 was a disappointment to the Chicago front office. After another subpar performance the following season, the outfielder was traded to the New York Yankees in December 1995 for a player to be named later, clearing the way for the White Sox to acquire Tony Phillips.

It would be with the Yankees that Raines finally took home some World Series hardware. Just a month into the Bombers' championship season of 1996, Raines severely pulled a hamstring, sidelining him until mid-August. However, he came back to finish the regular season with a respectable .284 batting average and 10 stolen bases, and contribute eleven hits in the postseason.

Leg problems would continue to affect the aging Raines' performance and playing time. Though he did bat .321 and .290 over the next two years, the outfielder was limited to just 183 games in that span, battling hamstring and knee injuries. After the Yankees' domination of the regular and postseasons of 1998, Raines had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.

In January 1999, he signed with the Oakland Athletics, but by mid-season was batting just .215 with a .337 on-base percentage, both by far his worst marks to date. Though an aging body could explain some of the effects, it could not account for the overwhelming lethargy Raines sometimes felt. In July 1999, after mysteriously gaining 28 pounds in three days, his skin tight across his face, the outfielder was diagnosed with lupus and took his leave from baseball to undergo treatment immediately.

After a physically and emotionally trying year, Raines had subdued the disease and attempted a comeback with the New York Yankees. At 40 years old, recovering from both lupus and the effects of a 21-year career, the outfielder was, by any stretch of the imagination, a longshot to make the club. Towards the end of spring training, realizing that he would not survive the cut with Lance Johnson and Roberto Kelly vying for backup time in the outfield ahead of him, he opted for retirement.
Following his announcement, Raines was invited to a tryout for the 2000 Olympic team, a squad that eventually would win the gold medal in the Sydney Games. He made it to the last cut before being passed over in favor of more youthful players.

With his son Tim Jr. accelerating through the Baltimore Orioles' farm system, Raines was tempted once again by the national pastime. Saying "I think it's destiny for both of us to play at the same time," Raines accepted an invitation to the Montreal Expos' spring training in 2001. Not only did the veteran outfielder have the opportunity to play against his son in an exhibition game, but he also made the team as a fourth outfielder, joining Henderson, Mike Morgan, and Jesse Orosco as the only four players active in the '70s still playing in the '00s. Raines came out hustling, but a shoulder strain sustained just a month into the season when diving back to first base, shortened his year dramatically.

Raines ranks just behind Henderson, Lou Brock, Billy Hamilton, and Ty Cobb as just the fifth member of the 800-steal club. At the turn of the millennium, his stolen base percentage of 84.7% was the highest in baseball history for players with 300 or more attempts, ahead of both Henderson (80.8%) and Brock (75.3%).

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« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2006, 11:05:48 am »

KU doctor uncovers what really killed Britain's House of Stuart
By Todd Cohen

It was elementary to Dr. Holmes. What suddenly killed Britain's King Charles II in 1685 was not apoplexy as his contemporaries surmised. It was acute mercury poisoning, contracted in an unventilated palace laboratory where the king played with chemicals.

And what did in Queen Anne in 1714 was her case of lupus, not gout as was thought, says Dr. Frederick Holmes, a physician at KU Medical Center.
A big clue was that out of her 17 pregnancies, only three babies were born alive. Those three died within 10 years, and with them the House of Stuart that had ruled Britain for a century.
Had modern medicine been available, history would be quite different, Holmes says, noting that lupus is very treatable today.

 "Suppose half of those pregnancies had lived," he muses. "She could have become a Victoria and her descendants would still be on the throne today."
It is those twists of fate, and the benefit of 200 years of medical hindsight, that has entertained Holmes the past few years. The Edward Hashinger distinguished professor of medicine has been training his medical knowledge on the relatively poor health of the Stuarts to diagnose what really ailed the sickly monarchs.
"There are a lot of `what ifs,' which is part of the fun of history." Holmes said. His work studying medical records and other writings from the period became his thesis for his master's degree in European history, which he received in May. It also may be fodder for a book he hopes to publish.

"I wanted to study history, not history of medicine. I wanted to learn how historians write, think and look at sources," Holmes says. "But it was always convenient to say [to the professor] `Can I write on a medical topic?'"
Few physicians look at historical figures, but Holmes soon discovered that he could conclude, with a high degree of certainty, what really killed the Stuarts. Reports from their attending physicians and vividly detailed accounts by ambassadors who observed the royal family provided a mountain of clues.

Thanks to years of medical advancement, Holmes could decipher what doctors then -- and historians today -- could not. Holmes was hooked.
"Most of these people were autopsied. Physicians can make conclusions that a historian can't," Holmes says.
He delved into the stacks at KU's Watson, Spencer, Government Documents and Science libraries on the Lawrence campus and the Clendening History of Medicine Library at KUMC. There he uncovered amazing resources, from a diary by Queen Anne's gynecologist to an analysis from King James I's physician.
"It was so good you could put it on the chart in a hospital today," Holmes said.


His findings included the following:
James I didn't walk until age 5. And observers noted strange mouth movements that suggested cerebral palsy. A better conclusion is that he had polio as a child, which would account for the leg weakness, Holmes says.

James' son Charles I, who was executed after losing a civil war, also didn't walk until he was 4 or 5 and never did walk very well.

"There are mild, hereditary forms of muscular dystrophy. He probably had one of these," Holmes said. "[Doctors then] thought his wet nurse was a drunkard and that he was damaged by her breast milk."

Charles II died of acute mercury poisoning.

Queen Mary, who ruled with her husband William of Orange (for whom the college in Virginia was named), died in her mid-30s of smallpox. Like her sister Queen Anne, Mary had no children. She had two pregnancies but no live births.

After Queen Anne died, a ruling council invited George I of Hanover, a great-grandson of James I, to take the throne, rejecting other Stuarts with a more direct lineage to the queen. The House of Stuart was over, and the last of the Stuarts died in the 19th century.

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I look normal, as I have an "Invisible Illness". You can not catch it, you can not see it. It's called Lupus.My body is attacking itself on the inside.
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« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2006, 10:40:56 am »

Eternal was a London-based 90s R&B girl group that found fame in 1993 and went on to become one of the UK's most successful girl groups of all time, achieving both domestic and global success.

The group was made up of church-going sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett and school friends Kéllé Bryan (also Kelle Bryan) and Louise Nurding (also Louise and Louise Redknapp), who both went to the famous Italia Conti Academy stage school.

Launched in 1993 with the Top 5 smash Stay, Eternal became the first girl group to have a million-selling album in the UK, with their debut set, Always & Forever. It was 1994's fourth biggest selling LP and spawned six Top 15 singles. Eternal's success was quickly recognised - they were named Best Group at the 1993 Smash Hits Poll Winners' Party and in 1995 they earned four BRIT Award nominations, including Best Album for Always & Forever.

In 1995, Louise left the band amid marked controversy over the fact that Louise was the only white member; some quarters suggested Louise was dumped to improve Eternal's chances of breaking America (where the group received criticism for having a single white member). Eternal's management, however, denied this was the case.

As Louise embarked on her (what was to be considerably fruitful) solo career, Eternal continued to enjoy success as a trio with their second album Power of a Woman, which gave them four Top 10 hits. In 1996, they were asked to sing the theme song for Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Someday. However, whilst this seemed like the ideal opportunity for the group to break America, for some reason Eternal's version was used everywhere except the USA (where American soul group All-4-One took the vocal honours).

In May 1997, the group joined forces with US singer BeBe Winans to score their first - and only - UK chart-topper, I Wanna be the Only One. Taken from their third LP, Before the Rain, it was third most played song on British radio in 1997 and earned them a MOBO Award, Capital FM Award and a BRIT Award nomination (all for Best Single). Their Greatest Hits package, which contained fourteen Top 15 hit songs, went to no.2 on the British album charts the same year, selling over a million copies in the process.

In 1998 Kéllé departed in yet another debacle when it became apparent that Kéllé had been asked to leave the group by Easther and Vernie via a letter from their solicitor, following a reported breakdown of professional relations between the sisters and Kéllé.

Easther and Vernie recruited for a replacement and appointed a singer named TJ, who subsequently left the group after only a brief stint, leaving just the two founding Bennett sisters once again. The now duo released one final single, What'cha Gonna Do (which reached a disappointing no.16), and a critically acclaimed self-titled album that performed dismally - it failed to even make the Top 75 - before being dropped by EMI in 2000.

****Kéllé Bryan experienced limited post-Eternal success in the form of one no.14 single called Higher than Heaven in October 1999. She also presented The N List on Nickelodeon with Dave Berry for a while. Rumour had it that she recorded a track with Slash from Guns N' Roses called Wait A Minute for her unreleased album Breakfast In Bed. Her second single, I Wanna Know, was cancelled due to lack of media interest, and personal health issues following her diagnosis as a sufferer of Lupus, a cause she now campaigns for awareness of.
http://kelle.so-addictive.co.uk/
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« Reply #12 on: November 28, 2006, 07:42:14 am »

MTV VJ Twins Turn Calender Girls

Their Aim To Spread Awareness About Mom's Illness, Lupus

WHAT will happen to my children if I die?
That was the biggest worry for the mother of chirpy MTV hosts May and Choy when she found out she suffered from lupus 10 years ago.

Madam Patricia Ho, 60, had probably had it for far longer.

The Malaysian VJ twins, Teh May Wan and Teh Choy Wan, were just 15 then. They are 25 now.


 
After an interview on Radio 91.3 with DJs Joe Augustin and Emily Ho to promote the May & Choy 2007 Calendar, the twins told The New Paper: 'The only thing she knew about lupus was that a friend died from it.'

The calendar, where both girls are decked out in sexy evening gowns, is to help raise awareness about systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). About 4,000 people in Singapore suffer from it. Most of them are women.

Lupus is an auto-immune disease where the immune system attacks the body's own organs. It is not contagious and it is not cancer. There is no cure, although medication can keep it under control. It can cause organ failure. Some even die as a result.

UNDER CONTROL

Unlike her friend, who died in her 40s, Madam Ho has been spared the worst. Her symptoms - tiredness, skin allergies, rashes, arthritis, eye problems and depression - are under control.

May and Choy described their mum as a liberal woman and their guiding light. Apart from her good looks, she has a cheeky sense of humour, which the girls, known for their bubbly antics on screen, said they have inherited.

The girls also said that their mother had made great sacrifices so that her daughters could have a better education in Australia.

'Don't make me start, I'll start crying,' said Choy, recounting her mum's move from Malaysia to Australia.

Lupus hasn't slowed Madam Ho down, said the twins. She even went clubbing with her daughters during a trip to Penang last year.

Yet, there are days when Madam Ho can't get out of bed and her arthritis is so bad that she flinches when someone touches her arm, said the twins.

The girls have also learnt to be careful about what they say around her, so as to not upset her, as she is prone to break out in a rash.

'As teenagers, you tend to piss your parents off, right? When we were young, we didn't really understand, but now we do,' said May.

Choy added: 'If we go on holiday, we can't walk for long periods of time because she gets tired easily. We can't go for beach holidays because the sun affects her skin.'

Having lived for so long under the spectre of the disease, it is no wonder the twins adopted lupus as their cause.

This is their second calendar. The first, launched last year, also to raise awareness of lupus, was sold only in Malaysia. For the latest calendar, they roped in their good friend, photographer Russel Wong. The calendar will be sold here too.

Though their mother is in good shape, the shadow of death is always present.

Just last week, May and Choy attended the funeral of a lupus patient. They didn't really know him, but they were told he had postponed an operation to attend their calendar launch.

May said they were shocked that he died so suddenly.

'I met him just a month ago. And now he's gone, you know?' she said. But their mother has learnt not to let the idea of death get her down. May added: 'She says, 'I'm not afraid to go now. My kids are grown up, they're successful, they're doing what I wanted them to do.' '

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« Reply #13 on: January 21, 2007, 11:20:04 am »

Tennis Player Kay McDaniel Has Lupus
January 21, 2007


Former Shreveporter Kay McDaniel will be inducted into the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame in Atlanta Saturday night with some elite company.

McDaniel will enter the Hall with former Wimbledon and U.S. Open singles champ Stan Smith.

 
"It's quite an honor to be inducted with the great Stan Smith on Saturday night, winner of Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and former No. 1 player in the world," said McDaniel via e-mail. "It will be a wonderful night, one to remember."

McDaniel's career might not have been as successful as Smith's, but she made a name for herself at all levels of tennis.

A resident of Cleveland, Tenn., the 49-year-old McDaniel won multiple state high school singles titles at Captain Shreve in the 1970s. She was also the top-ranked player in the USTA's Southern Section in the 14-, 16- and 18-and-under age divisions before earning All-America honors at LSU.

As a pro, she competed in six Wimbledon Championships, six U.S. Opens and three French Opens and reached as high as No. 30 in the world. She won a singles title and a doubles title on the old Virginia Slims Tour.

Despite battling the debilitating effects of lupus and Addison's disease for more than a decade, McDaniel has carved out a successful career for herself as an assistant professor of sport and human performance at Lee University in Cleveland.

The "Kay McDaniel Lupus Benefit Walk" at Lee raises awareness of the disease.

McDaniel also conducts tennis clinics and writes a tennis column for the Chattanooga Free Press. She is also a motivational speaker, an accomplished photographer and author of the book "Serving the Master."

"'Serving the Master' is a reflection of God's grace and power as He continues to forever change my life," McDaniel says of her Web site.


- Local groups and individuals fared well in the annual Louisiana Tennis Association awards to be presented Jan. 27 in Baton Rouge.

Local winners included the Northwest Louisiana Community Tennis Association (Community Tennis Association of the Year), Querbes Park pro Richard Verzaal (Education Merit Award), Gina and Tina Calligas (Media Award in Broadcasting), "Fun, Friends and Fitness" (Program Event of the Year), Caroline Kimball (Provisional Official of the Year Award) and Clare Maisel (Charles Turner Volunteer Service Award).

-Speaking of "Fun, Friends and Fitness," the local program's first session of the year will be from 10-noon Feb. 24 at Querbes Park Tennis Center.

The program seeks to attract new adult players to the sport and put them on track to participate in team tennis. It features instructors from local pros and volunteers and is held Saturdays at local private clubs and public facilities.

There is a one-time of $30 in advance or $35 at the door. For more information go to nwla.tennisplayers.com

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« Reply #14 on: February 17, 2007, 08:52:18 am »


Feb 17, 2007

Chicago's 'Idol' finalists speak of being a Lupus patient and missing Chicago's weather
For Leslie Hunt, making it to the final rounds of “American Idol” would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

 Hunt, a 24-year-old Chicagoan, is one of the final 12 women taking the stage on the Fox talent show Wednesday (the final dozen men perform Tuesday, and live eliminations begin Thursday).

A couple of years ago, however, Hunt would not have had the physical stamina to go through the grueling “Idol” audition process.

Diagnosed with lupus when she was 7, Hunt says she had a difficult childhood that was spent largely indoors.

“It was really tough,” Hunt said in phone call from Los Angeles, where she’s sharing a room with fellow Chicago-area contestant Gina Glocksen. “When I was a kid, there were a lot of limitations. Just a couple of years ago, a miracle medication made be able to do something like this.”

One side effect of lupus was that it was dangerous for Hunt to be in the sun, but thanks to her new medicine, she’s been able to work as a dog walker for the past couple of years. And she credits the medicine with allowing her to have the stamina to wait in line for six hours at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, where she tried out for “Idol.”

“Now I’m outside all the time,” said Hunt, who grew up in St. Charles, studied composition and piano at Roosevelt University and has played around Chicago with cover bands and with a group called Mark Twang.






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« Reply #15 on: February 20, 2007, 10:25:53 pm »


James Dewitt Yancey, aka Jay Dee or J Dilla, produced classics for various artists, including that of The Pharcyde, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul and his own group Slum Village.

Unbeknownst to all, save for family and close friends, James Dewitt Yancey, aka Jay Dee or J Dilla, suffered from a rare blood disease called lupus. LUPUS, a foundation dedicated to increasing awareness and research for this disease, states that "lupus is an autoimmune disease that can strike any organ in the body, including the heart, brain or blood.

 Normally, the body creates antibodies to protect your body against diseases. Lupus causes the body to generate a surplus of antibodies that attack the same healthy organs they're supposed to protect. There is no cure, only treatment to alleviate the pain."

For J Dilla, this was a life threatening disease he had lived with for a great portion of his musical career. Being a recluse that shied away from excessive attention, the majority of people were unaware of his condition until complications occurred in 2004 and 2005. Yet, because of his love for music, he continued to tour and produce, often from a wheelchair. Although it was painful, he pounded away on his equipment until his body gave out.

Kelly L. Carter (who wrote the article, "Jay Dee's Last Days" for the Detroit Free Press) described his tenure at the Hospital Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles as an excruciating one, yet that "wasn't deterring him from tinkering with his drum machine." He became more spiritual, reading the biblical narrative of Job from the Bible, most likely giving him solace that there was a person who had gone through more damage than he was, and survived. Although his body gave way on Feb. 10 (three days after his 32nd birthday), J Dilla died a humble man, grateful for his life and the opportunities he had.


His two posthumous masterpieces, "Donuts" and "The Shining," represent J Dilla at his best - manipulating soul samples and rhythms that James Brown would dance and shake feverishly to.

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« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2008, 11:49:53 am »

Tomorrow night is the Oscars and I want to remind everyone, not everyone in Hollywood is "normal" they too have disabilities. Enjoy the links~!

Hollywood Performers With Disabilities
 



Check out a Backstage West article highlighting disabled performers Robert David Hall and Teal Sherer.

http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/nyc/article_
display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003711445

Info about the TV Pilot produced, written, directed by Jim Troesh based on his life as one of the few quadriplegic actor/writers in Hollywood. The episode guest-stars Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle)

www.thehollywoodquad.com

www.DannyMurphy.com

www.LynnManning.com
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« Reply #17 on: July 06, 2008, 03:20:43 pm »


Richard Smith and his band, Twenty Minutes Late, have hit the charts with thier newly produced CD, “...all in.” Here, the father of three balances his son, Jax, on his shoulders.


Being diagnosed with Systemic Lupus has produced a lot of change in Richard Smith's life, but he never imagined it would lead him to become a country singer.

About five years ago when the retired naval veteran was medically discharged after serving eight years, he wrote songs as a way to cope with his diagnosis.


His wife, Ivita, discovered his writings and encouraged him to record the songs.

Smith headed up a band about four months ago and made his way to Zeke's Music World in Dobson, where he and his four band members recorded their first CD entitled “...all In,” which is a blend of country, rock, pop and blues. The group consists of Smith on lead vocals; Darrell Dezern on guitar; Rusty McLean on percussion; and John Williams on keyboard and additional bass.

Named after a frequently tardy band member, Richard Smith and Twenty Minutes Late saw recent success after being number one on the Great American Country contest chart for three days. Smith is currently listed as number one on Our Stage Song Competition, where independent musicians can submit songs for various prize listings.

Songs from the CD have been aired on local radio stations as well as across the country.

Debbie Cochran, a morning radio host for WSYD 1300 AM, debuted one of the band's songs, “Pink Slip,” earlier this week and said the song addressed issues like rising gas and food prices, which she added are relative to listeners.

“Richard has a powerful voice and is an incredible songwriter too,” she said. “Music is an escape from reality both for the listener and even the performer.”

Smith said writing songs is an outlet that helps him not only deal with reality, but create music that helps others too.

“The songs have a good message for anyone anywhere,” said Smith, who was born in Richmond County where his music was initially released before hitting Mount Airy airwaves.

“They relate to everyday life whether it's negative or positive.”

One of Smith's songs, “Living a Memory,” reflects his sentiment about coming to terms with the hand he's been dealt in life.

“It's a song that reflects on all the people around me,” he explained. “I'm satisfied if [God] took me tomorrow, I faced the fact that lupus could take me, but I have to enjoy the time I have now and create memories with the people I love, so I am living a memory.”

The father of three said that although he didn't grow up listening to country, his voice naturally suited that genre more so than the Carolina beach music he's always enjoyed.

“What I write about fits into country, a lot of its sad and slow songs,” he said.

Smith and the band are working on marketing their new CD and also hoping to book shows in the late summer and early fall. Tracks and the entire CD “...all in” can be purchased at itunes and Amazon.com. The full CD can be listened at www.myspace.com/richardsmithandtwentyminuteslate.com.

When Smith visited the WSYD radio station recently, Cochran heard his cell phone's ring tone which is “Life Ain't Always Beautiful” by country singer Gary Allan, the heartfelt lyrics and expressive vocals in the song seemed to remind her of Smith's own talents.

“Richard puts his heart and soul in his music,” she said. “He has the talent and drive to go far in the business.”
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« Reply #18 on: July 06, 2008, 03:24:14 pm »

Wonderful audio about the Flannerys
http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/specialenglish/2008_07/Audio/mp3/voa-se-pia-oconnor-5jul08.mp3

Flannery O'Connor
Original name: Mary O'Connor

Birth:   Mar. 25, 1925
Death:   Aug. 3, 1964
 
Author, Essayist. Savannah, Georgia born, Mary Flannery O’Connor was the daughter of real estate executive, Edward O’Connor and his socialite wife, Regina Cline. She was raised a Catholic in a Protestant world and would later use this experience for her work, “The Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South.” O’Connor’s father died when she was sixteen, and her mother took her back with her to the Cline’s family’s hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia. She lived with her mother and aunts while attending the Georgia State College for Women.

O’Connor remained in Milledgeville until 1945, when she left for the State University of Iowa enrolling in a writer’s program headed by Paul Engle from which she received a Master’s degree. After that she lived for a time in a writer’s colony in upstate New York, New York City, and eventually Ridgefield, Conn after meeting Robert and Sally Fitzgerald who worked in the publishing industry and became life long friends.

 In 1950, she began exhibiting signs of the illness that had killed her father, Lupus. She moved back to Georgia to be with her mother, and they went to live on her family farm, Andulusia. From there, she would complete her first novel, “Wise Blood,” which would be published in 1952. Despite her illness, O’Connor would have a lucrative career in writing. She would write several works between 1950 and her death in 1964, some of which would be published posthumously.

These works would receive several literary prizes and would became part of the canon of classic American Fiction studied today. Despite being stricken with Lupus she remained active up until the end. She traveled the country lecturing and giving readings of her work as well as participating in life in her hometown

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« Reply #19 on: July 16, 2008, 02:22:28 pm »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986
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« Reply #20 on: August 04, 2008, 10:55:58 am »

Playboy's Miss July '74

She was blond. She was beautiful. And in the 1970s, Carol Ann Marie Vitale was frequently naked in Playboy magazine.

The August 1972 cover girl and Miss July 1974 -- later a Frederick's of Hollywood lingerie designer and host of a long-running, eponymous cable talk show -- died at her Aventura condo on July 23.

Vitale was 61 and had been suffering from lupus and scleroderma for almost a decade, said Marlie Rosen, her personal assistant.

Still, Vitale was taking it all off for Hugh Hefner as late as 1997. That year, she appeared in a spread called Playmate Revisited: Carol Vitale, shot by Miami Shores photographer Bunny Yeager.

''Young men these days are so hot for older women, and I like men of all ages,'' the then-50-year-old Vitale declared. ``Just treat me like gold, and you'll never be sorry.''

At her last shoot in 1998, for Yeager's Glamour Girls Then and Now magazine, ''She was very much a perfectionist about how she posed and what she wore,'' Yeager said. She brought her own stylist and ''looked just as good'' as her younger self.

Born into a blue-collar, Elizabeth, N.J., Catholic family with seven kids, Vitale studied ballet and worked as a Sears credit investigator.

Married briefly after high school, she was soon the single mother of a daughter, dancing on a local TV show ``in miniskirts and boots, in cages.''

Vitale was still a teen when she came to South Florida with her boyfriend, a hairstylist. She danced, modeled, tended bar, won Miss Gulfstream and made the 1969 Miss Florida-World finals before joining the Miami Playboy Club ''hutch'' at 21.

She sported the ears and fluffy tail for five years and, as she once wrote, ``cherished every moment of it. I worked diligently and considered myself to be a star student. I performed every task that was delegated to me, including running the coat check, counting inventory and working in the Playmate bar, showroom and lounge area.

``Every job was executed with pride. . . . I would also later appear in several of the Best Bunnies of the Year features in Playboy.''

She won Miami Bunny of the Year in 1972, which earned her the magazine cover. She's in a white bikini, encircled by a red, rabbit-shaped swim tube, in a hotel pool.

Though she'd have to wait another two years for the coveted Playmate title, Vitale appeared often in ''What kind of man reads Playboy?'' ads.

Finally a centerfold in '74, she posed in a hammock, wearing only sunglasses. Her vitals at the time: five-foot-six, 115 pounds, 37-22-35.

`GOD'S GIFT'

''She had such a gorgeous body, and she thought it was God's gift,'' said close friend and executor Anna Abers, aka actress Anna Marlowe.

Her layouts ``were always in good taste. In those years, it was art; today it's pornography.''

The exposure, as it were, led Vitale into a life of fast-paced glamour with a mob-connected admirer who bestowed jewelry, furs and a Corvette.

When that ended, she toured with the Ray Coussins Revue, which opened for big-name comics like Henny Youngman, Red Buttons and David Brenner.

In 1978 and '79, Vitale hosted Disco Magic, a Miami-based television series, and dated Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Manny Fernandez.

Then she moved to California, where she got bit parts in minor Hollywood films. But she never sought screen stardom, Abers said.

In 1989, she launched the Carol Vitale Show on public-access cable.

''She loved it,'' Abers said. ''Without preparation or cue cards, she'd be asking the most intelligent questions.'' While mostly featuring celebrities like Tony Curtis, Walter Matthau, Mary Hart and Hefner -- as well as Playmates and Bunnies -- the show also booked businessmen, artists and doctors.

Dedicated to finding a cure for lupus, Vitale raised money for City of Hope, the Los Angeles-area research hospital, and was named the Miami chapter's Woman of the Year in 1995.

In 2000, too sick to continue, she finally pulled the plug on her show. It still airs in syndication nationally.

Her friend also had osteoporosis, Abers said, ``and it devastated her body and her spirit. She was bedridden most of the time and in great pain.''

UNABLE TO ADJUST

Emotionally, she couldn't adust, Abers said.

``She couldn't live without having fun.''

Carol Vitale is survived by a daughter, Colleen, of California; father John Vitale and stepmother Connie Vitale of New Jersey; and several step-brothers and step-sisters.

She will be buried Saturday at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, near Los Angeles, where she also had a home.



source MiamiHerald.com
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« Reply #21 on: March 01, 2009, 01:15:31 pm »

Wonderful audio about the Flannerys
http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/specialenglish/2008_07/Audio/mp3/voa-se-pia-oconnor-5jul08.mp3

Flannery O'Connor
Original name: Mary O'Connor

Birth:   Mar. 25, 1925
Death:   Aug. 3, 1964
 
Author, Essayist. Savannah, Georgia born, Mary Flannery O’Connor was the daughter of real estate executive, Edward O’Connor and his socialite wife, Regina Cline. She was raised a Catholic in a Protestant world and would later use this experience for her work, “The Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South.” O’Connor’s father died when she was sixteen, and her mother took her back with her to the Cline’s family’s hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia. She lived with her mother and aunts while attending the Georgia State College for Women.

O’Connor remained in Milledgeville until 1945, when she left for the State University of Iowa enrolling in a writer’s program headed by Paul Engle from which she received a Master’s degree. After that she lived for a time in a writer’s colony in upstate New York, New York City, and eventually Ridgefield, Conn after meeting Robert and Sally Fitzgerald who worked in the publishing industry and became life long friends.

 In 1950, she began exhibiting signs of the illness that had killed her father, Lupus. She moved back to Georgia to be with her mother, and they went to live on her family farm, Andulusia. From there, she would complete her first novel, “Wise Blood,” which would be published in 1952. Despite her illness, O’Connor would have a lucrative career in writing. She would write several works between 1950 and her death in 1964, some of which would be published posthumously.

These works would receive several literary prizes and would became part of the canon of classic American Fiction studied today. Despite being stricken with Lupus she remained active up until the end. She traveled the country lecturing and giving readings of her work as well as participating in life in her hometown


Book review: Lupus ended life of creator of so many bizarre characters


Mary Flannery O’Connor gained her first snippet of fame – not even 15 minutes’ worth – at the age of 5, when the Pathe newsreel company sent a camera crew to Savannah to film her pet chicken, which had been taught to walk backward.


As Brad Gooch notes in his biography, “Flannery,” birds would form a motif through the rest of the author’s life. Most famous, of course, were the peacocks, which she raised on her family’s farm, Andalusia, outside Milledgeville, Ga. A stylized peacock would appear on the cover of her posthumous “Complete Stories” when it came out in 1971.

Yet there were other fowl, too. O’Connor also raised chickens and ducks and Andalusia, some of them exotic, as well as swans. As a budding cartoonist at the Georgia State College for Women – like Robert Ruark she started out in art instead of writing – she designed her monogram in the shape of a bird.

Then, of course, there was the whole thing with a backward-walking chicken. O’Connor was, in her time, the authority on the grotesque in literature, her fiction people with peculiar, if not downright bizarre, characters. Of course, as she famously said, Southerners write so much about freaks “because we are still able to recognize one.”

O’Connor died in 1964, short of her 40th birthday, of lupus, the autoimmune disorder that had earlier killed her father. The disease (and the cortisone and related steroids she took to combat it) had weakened her legs and left her on crutches for much of her adult life.

In a short time, though, she accomplished much. Most critics would rank her comfortably alongside Faulkner and Eudora Welty in the Southern pantheon. (According to the Modern Language Association, her two novels and sheaf of stories have been the subject of 195 doctoral dissertations and more than 70 book-length studies, including Robert Coles’ “Flannery O’Connor’s South.”

Writers from Alice Walker to Clyde Edgerton have acknowledged her influence. (Edgerton told interviewers that his novel “The Bible Salesman” was directly inspired by two of O’Connor’s most famous characters, the Misfit from “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” and Manley Pointer, the Bible salesman from “Good Country People.”) Conan O’Brien, of all people, wrote his senior thesis at Harvard on O’Connor. (Another Harvard student, the future actor Tommy Lee Jones, wrote a senior paper on O’Connor, too.)

Given her rising fame, a new, detailed biography is a welcome delight. And while Gooch might not seem the ideal candidate to write it – his previous biographical subject was the gay “New York School” poet Frank O’Hara – he’s done a meticulous, honorable job.

As it happens, O’Hara and O’Connor shared an Irish background and an almost identical lifespan. (O’Hara died in 1966, aged 40.) O’Connor’s status as a minority within a minority – a devout Catholic in the buckle of the Bible belt – left her a double outsider, and outsiders are especially fine at noticing details that everyone else misses.

She was an outsider in other ways as well: shy, bookish, a little over-protected as a girl, and not a classic beauty. Her waspish wit set her apart early. (They probably would have quarreled, but she and Dorothy Parker would have found plenty to talk about.) The first signs of lupus probably manifested themselves while she was a student in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; by her mid-20s, she was already dying.

Disease perhaps cost her the chance at marriage and a family (or for a career as a cloisetered nun, for which she might have had an aptitude), yet it allowed her to focus her mind powerfully. As Gooch, puts it, she spent most of her short life staring down the barrel of the Misfit’s gun.

“Flannery” is no revisionist text. Gooch does little to alter the vision of O’Connor’s life. She almost certainly died a virgin, and may not have been kissed until she was nearly 30. Although one of her closest correspondents was expelled from the WACs in World War II for lesbian behavior, there are no signs O’Connor tended in that direction. As Gooch notes, she was often more open, more willing to reveal secrets, to people she knew only through the mail than to her closest friends.

Gooch is better on tracking down the inspirations for some of O’Connor’s tales; the gorilla suit from “Wise Blood,” for example, may have come from a screening of the movie “Mighty Joe Young.” He makes clear, however, that her imagination filtered and turned bare facts into something rich and strange; the tale of Hulga and the bible salesman, for example, seems based in part on O’Connor’s own chaste romance with a young Danish textbook salesman who occasionally came to call.

In the end, O’Connor said it best: She lived through her stories. Those, at least, seem guaranteed a long and healthy life.
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« Reply #22 on: March 24, 2009, 11:32:22 pm »

Miami rapper Trick Daddy reveals he has Lupus disease

March 23, 2009

Miami rapper Trick Daddy said today that he has been living for more than a decade with Lupus, a disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs.

Trick, born Maurice Young in Miami, went public with his condition on the Rickey Smiley Morning Show radio program.

Trick, 35, first gained notoriety as a guest voice on a track by another Miamian, Luther "Uncle Luke" Campbell. He has carved out a durable solo career telling "thug" tales about urban life in a deep, gruff voice. He records for his newly formed Dunk Ryders label.

He told Smiley that he's got an autobiography coming out and also will be starring in a movie.
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« Reply #23 on: April 21, 2009, 08:39:59 pm »

Donnie Klang says May is National Lupus Awareness month


Love Doctor Donnie Klang is the only artist from Making the Band to be offered a solo contract with Bad Boy records. He’s about to go on tour with his cohorts Danity Kane and Day26, so it was fitting that he came to Zootopia to introduce the lovely DK ladies.

We caught up with him backstage to find out what Donnie is fighting for.

So what kind of causes have you been involved in?
I mean basically just from when I was younger, in high school was I always involved in health programs like cancer walks, raising money, and lupus walks, my mom has lupus so I’m adamant about that kind of stuff and we had cancer in the family. So just anything that’s for a good cause, especially the one like lupus, because that hits right at home.

This whole fame thing kind of took off in the past year so it’s been crazy like being in the studio and we’re going on tour soon, rehearsing, so like I just used to do the walks and now I’m just starting to get involved, getting out of the studio, we’re able to do stuff.

Would you like to raise awareness about lupus?
Absolutely, I feel like it’s one disease that is under the track. You hear a lot about cancer, you know there’s cancer walks and AIDS benefits, but Lupus is a little more rare.

How would you raise awareness among young people?
To get a cause out there, we have the TV show Making the Band and we’re filming another season, and just to hear about that now like I can mention it on the show, mention if I do a stage stuff, hosting, mention it, if I do hosting if we do a performance, we’re about to go on tour, so there’s a bunch of ways to get it out.

SOURCE:CelebsGoneGood
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« Reply #24 on: June 01, 2009, 01:24:36 pm »


Dilla’s Mom Talks “Jay Stay Paid”

June 1st, 2009

In anticipation of Tuesday’s (June 2nd) release of the 28-track assemblage of unreleased J Dilla tracks Jay Stay Paid [click for album contest], HipHopDX spoke with the mother of the legendary Detroit-based producer (who passed due to complications from Lupus and the rare blood disease TTP in 2006) to explain just how her son’s latest posthumous release came to be rightfully overseen by “Ma Dukes,” and why Raekwon, Busta Rhymes and other artists who loved her son and his work can now get those much sought after Dilla beats hassle-free.

Artists who wanted to use Jay Dee productions prior to now were held up from formally doing so, trapped in legal limbo created by the executors of Dilla’s estate: J’s accountant Arty Erk, and his attorney Micheline Levine. The sad saga of artists being sued for using Dilla beats and profits earned by the estate not trickling down to Dilla’s two daughters and mother was for the first time fully documented for the world to see in the February 2009 issue of VIBE magazine in an article penned by Kelley Louise Carter entitled “Dollars To Donuts” [click here].   

“Oh, it’s in a much better place thanks to the VIBE article,” a very relieved-sounding Maureen Yancey (b.k.a. James “J Dilla” Yancey’s mother, a.k.a. “Ma Dukes”) revealed to DX this weekend regarding the status of her battle with Erk and Levine. “That was a groundbreaking point for us. I think because of the viewer audience for that magazine, it made all the difference in the world.”

While there have been several other press pieces that too made the masses aware of struggles Mrs. Yancey had encountered in dealing with her son’s estate [click to read], Ma Dukes believes previous attempts in interviews and articles to shine a light on the mishandling of Dilla’s estate were unfortunately not widespread enough and thus taken lightly by its executors until the Vibe expose.

“It was [only] a matter of weeks after that [article was published] that things began to turn around,” explained Mrs. Yancey. “I think it just got under the [skin] of those that were in charge and they decided they didn’t want that kind of publicity… The estate, it has different executors now because [Erk and Levine] backed out of it when the fire got a little too hot.”

Jay Dee’s estate is now officially overseen by a California probate attorney working on behalf of Dilla’s family to put the producer’s financial matters (including reported debt to the IRS) and other legal entanglements in order. Ma Dukes believes by the end of ‘09 everything should finally be straightened out, which should lead to Dilla’s daughters (nine-year-old Paige, and seven-year-old Ja’Mya) receiving the long-overdue residuals from the estate their dad intended for them per his 2005 will.

“Oh yes indeed, as soon as things are straightened out,” Mrs. Yancey replied when asked if the new estate executors will see to it that Paige and Ja’Mya are financially taken care of. “I think that they have to untangle whatever web that the old estate had [created]. And they have not been cooperative, as far as sending stuff over like they should have – they could’ve turned stuff over right away. They’ve been dragging [their feet] and taking their time [in] the course of doing things. But eventually they have to answer to the courts… [We’ll] get it [all] straight eventually and the family will be good.”

Now legally possessing the right to use Dilla’s name and likeness (which will allow her to finally launch the long-planned J Dilla Foundation for kids stricken with Lupus), Ma Dukes can also see to it that artists who encountered interference from Erk and Levine when attempting to procure previously unreleased Dilla productions for use on their respective releases no longer run into ridiculous red tape. Mrs. Yancey confirmed to DX that Raekwon is now free and clear to use the track he was given by Dilla prior to his passing for “House of Flying Daggers” (“He called to get my blessing,” she noted), which is slated for inclusion on Rae’s forthcoming Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II.

Unfortunately, one artist as of now it looks like Ma Dukes can’t make wrong right by is Dilla friend and longtime collaborator Busta Rhymes, who was inexplicably sued by the former executors of Jay’s estate for releasing (in conjunction with Mick Boogie) the free 2007 mixtape Dillagence [click to listen], which featured Busta and others rhyming over previously unreleased Dilla tracks.

“That [lawsuit] was not from the family,” Mrs. Yancey quickly clarified. “The family had nothing to do with that. That was Micheline and Arty. And what can I say, the only word that I can think [of] in my own mind is greed that would cause [them to do] something like that. And of course, Busta never took a track from anybody. Busta always took care of his stuff up front. That’s how he rolled with Dilla. They had a very close and very personal relationship.”

Apparently soured over the whole experience, Busta broke a longstanding pledge to always include Dilla productions on his solo releases with his latest offering, Back On My B.S.

“I haven’t talked to [Busta] in some months,” revealed Mrs. Yancey. “It was heartbreaking for me that communication was lost. And it was specifically because of that, because I’m sure that [the old estate executors] made it seem like the family was after him for [money]. And the family had no knowledge of [the lawsuit] until after the fact. And [it] definitely was against the [family’s wishes]. We all love him personally. We all know him personally. And it just really did something to me because he’s looked out for me since Dilla’s passing, as if he was my son. And so it hurt me to no end. I’ve tried to reach him, but I haven’t had a response. And I could certainly understand why, but I don’t stop trying [to reach him]. I always send messages through everybody and anybody that would have contact [with him]. I just keep it out there and send the love regardless.”

While sadly the relationship with Busta has become strained, many artists who worked with and became friends of Dilla have kept their connection to him by keeping in routine contact with his Ma Dukes.

“I just [got] a text from Common this morning,” she noted. “We keep in touch… And [Q-Tip] checks in every once and awhile. Everybody [stays in touch]. My mother’s day is like off the hook [Laughs] - I’m getting texts and voicemails and calls all day…Everybody, they just wanna make sure I’m good and [that] my health is getting better.”
 
In a twist of tragic irony, the 60-year-old was herself diagnosed with the disease that claimed the life of her son shortly before Dilla passed.

“I’m doing great,” she revealed to DX of her current condition. “I’m doing better. I haven’t had any flare-ups from the Lupus… The only struggle I’ve had with [my treatment] is the steroids. I didn’t realize that you could get addicted to steroids… My doctor’s [weaned] me off. I said, ‘Well I wanna be off these steroids [anyway] because I don’t like this football neck that steroids give you.’ [Laughs]”   

Even with having to ingest up to 18 pills a day, Ma Dukes has maintained her good spirits, motivated to stand strong in the face of her illness so that she can continue working to keep her son’s memory alive.

“That’s what I’m living for now,” she said. “I just got a new lease on life, and I just feel like that’s my purpose now.”

The first step in executing that purpose as the new de facto executor of her son’s estate is seeing to it that her son’s music continues to reach the ears of adoring fans. And after having to endure countless difficulties in negotiating with the old estate executors, Nature Sounds is finally able to release Jay Stay Paid to the world. 

“This was something that was done when Dilla was still alive,” Mrs. Yancey explained of her son’s latest posthumous collection. “This is part of… This is like remnants of the Jay Love Japan stuff - all that was like part of the same project. Jay Love Japan never did do like it was supposed to because of the interference from the estate.”

Unsure as of the moment if more unearthed Dilla material will be released in the future via Nature Sounds, or via any other label, including MCA/Geffen, who are rumored to still be in possession of unreleased Dilla tracks for Jay’s onetime planned solo album for the label (“I don’t know the status of [that],” Mrs. Yancey clarified), Ma Dukes is currently completely focused on seeing to it that fans of her son’s work are as excited about Jay Stay Paid as she is, as she noted to DX, “I’m just geeked about it myself [Laughs]. I’m just happy, ‘cause to me it’s a tribute from the heart. It’s a gift back to Dilla by it being [mixed and musically supervised] by Pete [Rock], who meant so much to Dilla. That was Dilla’s idol. And [Pete] always felt that same way [about Dilla]. So to me, it’s like a gift back to Dilla by Pete working on this project and putting his heart into it. It’s just like a thank you back to Dilla, giving some of his stuff back to him. That’s what I’m feeling [it is]. It’s a heartfelt thing. I enjoy the music, but it’s so much more than that for me.”
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« Reply #25 on: June 09, 2009, 06:48:22 am »

Big Brother 10: Sophia Suffers from Lupus
June 09, 2009

Sophia on Big Brother 10 may have a lot to say on the show, but one lesser known fact about the reality television star is that she has been a lifelong sufferer of  the ulcerative skin disease, lupus.

A Private Banking assistant by trade, Sophia is naturally a very goal oriented person. Sophia credits her positive outlook on life to her experience with lupus and thinks that it makes her more "fun, fierce and fiesty".
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« Reply #26 on: June 09, 2009, 06:49:27 am »

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", suffering from lupus

The woman behind the Beatles' hit song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" has the auto-immune disease lupus, British singer Julian Lennon says.

Lennon, whose late father John was a member of the popular British rock group, said Lucy Vodden, 46, is facing organ breakdown and intense pain as she battles lupus, The Sunday Times of London reported.

Vodden, whose maiden name is O'Donnell, earned instant notoriety after being identified as the inspiration for the song from the Beatles album "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

The younger Lennon, who uttered the line that became the song's refrain when referring to a picture he had drawn of his young nursery school friend, said he has been offering aid when he can to his father's former muse.

"I've been able to help out a bit," he said. "I was so upset to hear what had happened."

Vodden told The Sunday Times she has received gift vouchers to a garden center, flowers and a personal card from her former schoolmate.

"It was lovely of Julian," she said of his get-well gifts.
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« Reply #27 on: June 09, 2009, 06:49:40 am »

Big Brother 10: Sophia Suffers from Lupus

June 09, 2009

Sophia on Big Brother 10 may have a lot to say on the show, but one lesser known fact about the reality television star is that she has been a lifelong sufferer of  the ulcerative skin disease, lupus.

A Private Banking assistant by trade, Sophia is naturally a very goal oriented person. Sophia credits her positive outlook on life to her experience with lupus and thinks that it makes her more "fun, fierce and fiesty".
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www.LupusMCTD.com Represents:
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« Reply #28 on: July 03, 2009, 12:31:13 am »

Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas began work on his second solo album with "poppy melodies in my head and a lot of heavy (stuff) on my mind."

The first single, Her Diamonds, was inspired by Thomas' wife, Marisol, who in recent years has struggled with a lupus-like autoimmune disease. Her battle isn't specifically addressed, "but it's about how something like that makes you feel empathy. I like to write about universal emotions. Everything has a base emotion; it's just what triggers it that's different for everyone."

Marisol also provided backing vocals for the title track, "and she helped me arrange it, too. It was going to more upbeat, but she heard it as a ballad."
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« Reply #29 on: November 29, 2009, 05:50:26 pm »

MARY McDONOUGH'S VALIANT STRUGGLE WITH LUPUS


Mary McDonough has entertained audiences for more than 30 years on film, stage and television. She is most remembered for her role as "Erin" in "The Waltons." For over 25 years, television audiences have grown up with this 1930s family, struggling through a depression on Walton’s mountain. New audiences are still discovering the entire Walton family, with this Emmy Award winning show in specials and syndication.

In recent years, Mary has begun working behind the camera producing independent film projects, but her first love is still acting.

She maintains a very busy work regimen, and has appeared in numerous guest roles on such television series as Promised Land, Diagnosis Murder, ER, The Pretender, One Life to Live, General Hospital, and Picket Fences. Mary is also found regularly in roles on stage, in feature films, and made-for-TV movies.

In the late 1970’s the Lupus Foundation of America asked Mary to serve as a celebrity spokesperson. Lupus is a chronic disease that, for unknown reasons, causes the immune system to become hyperactive and attack the body’s own tissue and organs. At least 1.4 million Americans have Lupus, 90% of whom are women.

At the time she did not have lupus, nor was there a history of the disease anywhere in her family. She did not even know anyone who had lupus. So why, you might ask, did the Lupus Foundation want her to serve in this role? They thought she would be a good choice because she was in the age group (15 - 44) when women usually begin to develop symptoms of lupus.

She learned all that she could about lupus and spoke about the disease on television and in

interviews with writers for news magazines. During her travels for the Lupus Foundation of America, she met many amazing, strong, and inspirational women who had the disease. The women she met were not just coping with Lupus, but were leading full and productive lives. She started to experience symptoms of lupus about eight years before a doctor finally diagnosed her with the disease. It is not unusual for people with lupus to suffer symptoms for several years because the disease is so hard to diagnose. There is no single test that can tell if a person has lupus.

When the symptoms first began, she just had the feeling of being "off." Mary did not have the same drive and energy she used to have. Later, she noticed a few rashes on her face, chest and back. She went to several doctors who dismissed her symptoms as anything serious.

Mary decided to see a dermatologist because a red rash had developed on her face, across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. The dermatologist treated the rash but never linked it to any specific cause.

Unfortunately, she since has learned that many fine doctors are unaware of the complexities of Lupus and how its many symptoms can mimic other common, but less serious illnesses.

Mary’s "off" feeling continued for several years eventually turning into extreme fatigue. The overwhelming exhaustion would come on like a freight train. She would want to lie down wherever she was and nap. She describes it as having VERY bad jet lag, the kind where you are very tired at strange times of the day as if you were drugged.

Mary also felt as if she had the flu, however it never went into a full blown flu and the symptom lasted for several weeks. Even her hair hurt like when a person has a very bad fever. The doctors also wrote these symptoms off as the flu.

 

No two people with Lupus have exactly the same symptoms and most do not experience all of them. The symptoms of Lupus include achy or swollen joints, fevers, fatigue, skin rashes, anemia, chest pains on breathing deep, hair loss, fingers turning blue in the cold, seizures, and mouth or nose ulcers.

As the years progressed, she experienced several of these symptoms. Mary knew something was wrong with her even

though many different doctors never diagnosed her with anything out of the ordinary.

She started to feel as if she was a hypochondriac and doctors began to treat her as though she was a big cry baby. This made her feel even worse. She thought, "Maybe I am being a big baby." "Maybe I’m fine and I am only depressed." Mary started to go to therapy. Unfortunately, the symptoms continued.

She began to get sick after sun exposure, called photosensitivity. Her eyes became so sun sensitive that she had to forget going out into the sun without protection. SPF-40 sun block became her constant companion. Mary’s joints started to ache very badly and

her muscles felt as if they had needles piercing through them. The extreme fatigue continued to drain her of all energy.

At this point, she was both lucky and unlucky at the same time. She was involved in a car accident and ruptured a disk in her back. Mary went to physical therapy and to a

chiropractor but she did not get better. Her chiropractor decided she needed to see an orthopedic doctor.

Ironically, after going to several doctors, it was the orthopedic doctor who told her that she had too many symptoms to attribute them just to a bad back. She ordered a series of laboratory tests used to diagnose Lupus. The test results revealed that she had an elevated level of antibodies that attack the body’s own cells. Finally, she had a clue that something was wrong with her.

Mary went to see a Rheumatologist but she did not diagnose her with Lupus right away.

During this time Mary had another mixed blessing. In 1991, she became pregnant. A woman with Lupus often has no symptoms of the disease while she is pregnant. Unfortunately, she did not know, at the time, that the disease can flare up in a woman immediately after she gives birth. She had a horrible post birth experience lasting five months. Once again she thought it was just her and she was crazy to think something was wrong. Especially since her obstetrician said she was not "adjusting well to motherhood." "Perhaps he was right?" She felt like a horrible failure.

Mary pleaded with her Rheumatologist to explain why she was feeling so sick all of the time. She waited for several more years feeling as if she was crazy while being monitored by her doctor. After years of suffering horrible symptoms and emotional devastation, she finally received a diagnosis of Lupus.

Later, Mary found another rheumatologist in Los Angeles, Dr. Daniel Wallace, and read his wonderful book on the disease called "THE LUPUS BOOK." It helped her to understand lupus and how doctors can treat it. She began to take medications and she started to feel better than she had in many years.

Mary prefers to use a natural healing process. She tried practically every multi-level marketing concoction available including creams, herbs and vitamins. Unfortunately, some of

them made her feel worse. Several drugs, herbs and foods can harm people with Lupus by causing the disease to flare. People with Lupus must consult with their doctor before beginning to use complementary therapies.

In addition to Lupus, Mary has Fibromyalgia (painful muscles) and Sjogrens Symptom (a collagen disorder causing dry mouth, eyes or skin). She is now under the care of a great doctor whom she trusts and feels safe. This is so important for her and has made a big difference in her health. She no longer feels crazy.

When Mary first "came out" about her Lupus, people told her that she should keep quiet for fear that It would ruin her career. They told her to keep it a secret because employers are afraid to hire sick people. Well, she couldn’t do that--it’s not her way.

It’s ironic. Mary began her association with lupus while a young actress serving as a "celebrity spokesperson" to educate people about the disease. Who could have imagined, at that time, that she would be doing the same thing as an adult actress, only this time speaking from personal experience. Mary can educate people about Lupus much better now because of all that she has been through with the disease.

Hopefully, she will lead as productive a life as the inspirational women who taught her many years ago.

If you or anyone you know has any of the symptoms of Lupus, please see a rheumatologist or call the Lupus Foundation of America by dialing 1-888-38LUPUS.

For additional information, please visit the Lupus Foundation of America at www.lupus.org.

 

SOURCE: http://www.the-waltons.com/lupus.html
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