>Re: Bruce Anderson, member of Parkinson's list for 9 years
>
>Dear Friends of Bruce's:
>
>I am Bruce's younger sister and have read so many emails from all of you. I
>want to thank you for the tremendous support that you all gave Bruce over the
>past 9 years. He relied on you all greatly.
>
>Bruce died suddenly in his sleep on March 4th in San Diego. He had just seen
>his doctor, Dr. Fahn, at Columbia 5 days earlier. He had been told that the
>test they did on his brain, showed that his brain was fully functioning, even
>better than a 57 yr old (his age) man. He then said with good care, Bruce
>could live for another 20 years.
>
>Bruce left New Jersey on Saturday and flew alone to San Diego to spend time
>with his youngest son Brian and me (his only sister). He arrived late
>Saturday night and Brian and  one of Bruce's good friends met him at the
>airport. They had arranged a room at the beach so Bruce could be near Brian.
>The second week he was going to come north (I am 20 miles north of San Diego)
>and spend a week with me - he and I both shared a true love of gardening. It
>was amazing to see him, unable to walk or even stand at anything better than
>a 45 degree angle, and yet he could plant bulbs and garden with the best of
>the best. His home has 4000 daffodils and 8000 irises - and they are all in
>bloom now. I am waiting for some pictures - I never managed to be there when
>they all came out.
>
>As I said, he arrived Sat nite, and spent Sunday with his son (and his new
>girlfriend who Bruce liked immensely) at a BBQ his son through at his condo
>near the beach. Monday, Brian and Bruce went shopping n since it was rainy,
>they just puttered around his room trying to get all his electronic equipment
>to work. Monday nite he had dinner with his good friend's family and then
>went back to his room to bed.
>
>I was in Los Angeles as my daughter goes to school there. I returned around
>midnight on Monday to 4 wonderful phone messages from Bruce. He knows I hate
>telemarketers so I don't pick up unless I know who is calling. Hardly anyone
>could understand Bruce's speaking, except for me. He left 4 messages saying
>"Barb are u there - it's Bruce. Barb, Barb?" Finally when he realized I
>wasn't there, he started talking to my dogs (a Boxer Jade and a Pug Max whom
>he loved!) "Jadie, how are you? It's Uncle Bruce here. Are you being good?
>Maxie, you better NOT be chewing anything as you are going to get into big
>trouble!" I laughed as I listened to the messages - the last one was at 11:30
>p.m. n I arrived home at 12:00 p.m. Thinking I would talk to him tomorrow, I
>erased the messages.
>
>His dear friend (since high school days) went to get him to go to the beach
>at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday. Ron thought he was sleeping as he was wearing his
>usual sleeping mask and his ear plugs. Ron left him a note and left. Brian,
>Bruce's son, arrived at 2:00 to hook up the computer and he says he knew
>right away that something was wrong. Bruce was already gone and we were told
>he died somewhere between 6-9 a.m. on Tuesday March 4th.
>
>We requested his brain be sent to Columbia for research. His body had to be
>autopsied as in California if you are found alone, it is treated as a
>criminal case until after the autopsy. Columbia called today and said that
>all this time they had not known exactly what Bruce had - they kept saying
>neurological disorder of unknown origin. Today they said he had
>"SupraNeucleorPalsy" (I think this is the same thing Dudley Moore had). Bruce
>lasted 9 years with this disease. He was so sure he would beat it and they
>would find a cure before it was too late for him. (We are still waiting to
>hear exactly what was cause of death).
>
>Bruce was my best friend, my knight in shining armor who treated me with
>total respect and love. And even in his most trying times, he would laugh and
>make jokes. He never lost his sense of humor. I asked him one time if he
>wanted me to help him find another doctor (he had seen so many across the
>country trying to get a diagnosis) and he said "Nope, I have the best" (same
>doctor as Muhammad Ali). I asked him if he was scared - he looked at me and
>laughed and said "Scared? ME? I'm going to around for a longgggg time".
>
>And in my heart Bruce will be with me forever.
>
>If any of you who have corresponded with Bruce through the years receive
>this, I'd love to know that some of you received it. I have been trying to
>reach Janet Paterson, who was especially helpful to Bruce, but have been
>unsuccessful in reaching her. If any of you have her correct email, I would
>love to be able to email her. She was so good to Bruce.
>
>And to all of you who shared so many jokes with him - he passed on many of
>them to our family. He loved to laugh and you all made him laugh and not
>worry. What a wonderful support group you all are.
>
>What many of you do not know is that Bruce's personal home life was extremely
>difficult - far worse than can be imagined. He had no support from his home
>(except for his family of origin all of whom lived over 1,000-10,000 miles
>away) and in fact had difficulty even getting to doctors. When his lawyer
>found out that Bruce had passed away, he was so angry as Bruce had suffered
>so much emotionally this past year (and his family here in San Diego and in
>Minnesota didn't know how bad it was as Bruce would NEVER complain). His GP
>was especially worried about Bruce's emotional health due to the problems he
>had with family members who refused to be caretakers and instead wanted him
>committed to a mental hospital.
>
>So your jokes and your warmth to him was all the more appreciated as he
>wouldn't let anyone think of him as a burden and would rarely ask for help.
>
>I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for all your
>emails to Bruce - they meant more to him (and to me as I read his files and
>see how much he depended on the assistance you afforded each other) than you
>will ever know. Bruce was more like a twin than a brother and I miss him more
>than I ever thought was possible, but just knowing he had a group such as
>yours, puts my heart to rest a little easier.
>
>I do hope each of you can think of just one more joke and let Bruce know u
>are sending it to him. He never lost his sense of humor - a person to be
>truly admired just as he admired all of you.
>
>With loving thanks,
>Barbara Anderson

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