well said.

Dennis Greene wrote:
>
> I recently saw a documentary on Jacqueline du Pre, the cellist who died of
> MS in 1987, having been diagnosed some 10 years before at the age of 32.
> The documentary began with a summary of her life which included a comment on
> the tragedy of such a great talent being cut short because of MS. The
> program then spent the next 40 minutes on interviews with the cellist and
> those who had had the privilege of knowing her.  It also included many
> examples of her glorious playing. In the last couple of minutes MS was
> mentioned once more, and a brief description given of its effects on Ms du
> Pre and her abilities.  My 1st reaction was that for something that had such
> a huge affect on her life MS was treated in a very offhanded way.  But after
> some thought I realised that the director had got it right.  What was
> important about Jacqueline du Pre was that she had a magnificent ability to
> play the cello, not that MS ended it.  The tragedy would have been as
> complete had she died in a motoring incident (a la Isadora Duncan) or choked
> to death on a piece of bread (a la Mama Cass).  But in neither of those
> cases would I expect the documentary to go into detail on car crash
> statistics or the correct way to chew your food.
>
> Which got me thinking about the way we monitor high profile PWP, and expect
> them to use every photo opportunity as a platform to increase the knowledge
> of PD.  Just as with each of us PD is part of their lives, not all of it.
> So there will be times when it makes sense to mention PD and times when it
> doesn't.  Since seeing that show I have also realised that, should I be
> remembered for anything in 50 years time - I hope it will be for something
> more than that I had Parkinson's Disease.
>
> Dennis
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Dennis Greene 50/dx 37/ onset 32
> There's nothing wrong with me that fixing PD won't fix!
> email - [log in to unmask]
> Website - http://members.networx.net.au/~dennisg/
> (most recent update -Nov 5, 1999)
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++