NightlineRead this late today...hope it's not too late for some of you.
/marilyn CG Frank 77/64/? zip 22101
-----Original Message-----
From: Nightline [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 1:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: NIGHTLINE: UNDER THE KNIFE: One Patient's Story
Nightline Daily E-Mail
March 26, 2004
TONIGHT'S FOCUS: Having brain surgery - especially while you're
awake - might not sound particularly fascinating or funny. But the subject
of tonight's program will show you that it can be both. He will also show
you that being a patient, even in extreme circumstances, does not have to be
frightening. His story is about arriving at the intersection of modern
medical advancement - and unpleasant circumstance - and about finding the
courage and the humor to cope with it.
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For Ray Farkas, life and all its twists and turns are fascinating
and funny - and all fodder for his television camera. Ray is a television
producer - one of us, quite literally. He spent years in network news at NBC
and ABC, among other places. It's rare for producers to appear on
television. In fact, we generally avoid it like the plague. But some stories
are personal, and this is one of them.
At an age when many are contemplating retirement and slowing down,
Ray was still working hard, enjoying his family, playing tennis with his
teenage son. Then he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. And soon
Parkinson's insidious symptoms got in the way of so many of life's
pleasures.
But tonight's story is not a sad tale of illness and slow descent.
Hardly. Ray Farkas was diagnosed with Parkinson's at a fortunate moment in
medical history. More than ten years ago, surgeons began experimenting with
a procedure called "deep brain stimulation," which is now having profound
effects on some patients with Parkinson's. It is not a cure and does not
work for everyone. But for some patients, it offers enormous relief.
It is brain surgery, and requires the patient be fully conscious
throughout the lengthy procedure. And when Ray Farkas got that news, he got
an idea. Why not film the operation? His adult sons, also television
professionals, were enlisted as camera people... and, well, the results are
unique. Just like Ray Farkas.
Whether it's Parkinson's or another disease, many of us - most of
us, even - will face a serious illness at some point in our lives. The
option to elect surgery can be so daunting, that some simply can't bring
themselves to do it. Ray Farkas makes being ill, and even being on an
operating table, seem not so terribly frightening.
We hope you'll join us.
Sara Just and the Nightline Staff
ABCNEWS Washington D.C. bureau
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