Ailment Can't Take Away Their Spotlight (Janet Reno, Lucy Roucis)
By Diane Carman - Denver Post Columnist

Article Published: Sunday, February 29, 2004

Lucy Roucis leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the former attorney general of the United States of America.

"Let's have a shaky hug," she said.

The Buell Theatre was nearly filled Wednesday night with people who wanted to hear what Janet Reno had to say about
Bill Clinton, the USA Patriot Act, the Branch Davidian standoff at Waco, the Elián González controversy, the
investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Roucis was there to take her by the hand and shake and shake and shake. The gesture touched Reno so deeply she nearly
cried.

Both women have Parkinson's disease, and both have the courage to perform onstage in spite of it.

Reno - poised, prepared and in control - spoke as part of The Denver Post's Unique Lives lecture series. Roucis -
smiling, ebullient and dancing excitedly with dyskinesia, the "involuntary aerobics" caused by her medication -
recently completed a four-week run in the Arvada Center production of "The Women."

"I wanted to see another woman with Parkinson's doing something incredible," Roucis explained. "I mean, she was the
attorney general, for God's sake."

Still, from her seat in the audience, Roucis worried that Reno's medications might wear off in mid-speech. She
sympathized with her and silently cheered as Reno spoke with composure, clarity and passion.

During the lecture, Reno never mentioned her Parkinson's. It came up only in response to a question from the audience:
What is your position on stem-cell research?

Reno paused.

"I'm prejudiced," she said.

The crowd roared its approval.

"I loved her answer," said Roucis. "It was perfect."

Reno was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1995 at age 57. Through medication and treatment, she has been able to remain
active, continuing to serve as attorney general until 1999 and running unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for
governor of Florida in 2002.

At 65, she keeps a busy speaking schedule, goes kayaking and travels around the country in her red pickup truck.

Roucis, 44, is more disabled.

She was diagnosed 17 years ago when she was modeling and working as an actress in Los Angeles. Two years ago, a doctor
described her condition as "advanced."

She is frequently incapacitated, sometimes to the point that she is unable to walk or hold a glass of water.

During a recent phone conversation, she admitted, "I'm really hungry right now." But she couldn't walk to the kitchen
to get some food. She had to wait until her medications took effect and enabled her to get out of bed.

When she first approached Reno backstage, Roucis was functioning well, walking on the arm of a friend. But as she spoke
to her, the excitement set her legs kicking and her arms waving wildly.

"When you have Parkinson's, it physicalizes everything," Roucis said. "All your emotions are physicalized. You can't
control it.

"I'm sure you noticed that when we started talking, she started shaking really hard and I started moving really hard,"
she said. "With Parkinson's, there's no way to hide.

"In a way, it's kind of a cool way to act."

For both women, the high point of the meeting clearly was when Roucis delivered a bit of her stand-up routine.

At her prompting, Reno played straight woman for Roucis' nutty riff on the "Pros and Cons of Parkinson's."

It went something like this: Pro - Never being asked to babysit. Con - Being asked to hold a baby and the baby ends up
in a tree.

Pro - Having so much movement and burning so many calories, you can eat anything you want. Con - Except soup.

Pro - Mixing a mean margarita. Con - Wearing a mean margarita.

Reno laughed and laughed. "You have such a great sense of humor," she said.

Roucis said seeing the former attorney general inspires her to do more performing and public speaking.

In addition to her work at Arvada Center, she performed at the Copacabana in New York last fall for a Parkinson's
fundraiser. And she is hoping for a good part in the Physically Handicapped Amateur Musical Actors League production of
"Guys and Dolls" this summer.

"I almost always get a good part in their productions," she said, adding that she will try to persuade Reno to come
back to town to see the show.

In the meantime, she said, she'll follow Reno's activities with special interest.

"She's a very strong individual," she said. "I was quite impressed with her stamina and her grace under fire."

And she loves her politics. "To me, the most important thing she said was that our No. 1 concern in this country should
be the education of our people. Based on that, I want to see Janet Reno run for president."

Though she'd be the first one to admit, she's prejudiced.

Diane Carman's column appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.

SOURCE: The Denver Post, CO
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~115~1986754,00.html

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