Johnny Cash fighting double pneumonia
By Jay Orr and Tim Ghianni
=20
Johnny Cash is using a ventilator to fight double pneumonia at Baptist
Hospital.=20
The country music legend has been gravely ill for several days, and for
much of the time he has been unconscious. His condition improved some today,
family friends said.=20
Cash's health declined after his hospitalization for treatment of
Parkinson's disease around the first of the month.=20
Family members have been with the him throughout his convalescence, and
singer Rosanne Cash, his oldest daughter, returned Sunday to Nashville from
New York.=20
Cash, 65, announced Oct. 25 at a Michigan concert that he has Parkinson's.=
=20
He canceled promotional appearances for his new book, Cash: The
Autobiography, and went into Baptist Hospital soon after for treatment for
Parkinson's.=20
The ventilator is being used to clear Cash's lungs of fluids associated
with the pneumonia.=20
In Cash: The Autobiography, he wrote that he would like to "just keel over
and die on the stage, under the lights, with my band and my family around me
and Fluke (drummer W.S. Holland) still laying down the beat. That's every
performer's dream, you know."=20
Baptist Hospital officials would not elaborate on Cash's condition this
morning.=20
"He is still in satisfactory condition, still undergoing treatment for the
Shy-Drager," said Jessica Etz, media relations director at the hospital.=20
When asked about the family and friends' reports of Cash's condition, Etz
said: "I have no information about that."=20
Cash was admitted to Baptist Hospital around the first of this month for
tests and treatment of Shy-Drager syndrome, also known as multiple system
atrophy (MSA). The syndrome is a neuro-degenerative disease in the
Parkinson's disease family. MSA normally strikes people between ages 50 and
70, according to Dr. David Robertson, director of the Shy-Drager Center at
Vanderbilt University Medical Center.=20
Cash reportedly learned that he was ill during the course of a recent
physical examination.=20
MSA is incurable and progressive. It attacks the nervous system and erodes
motor skills. Medication can control some of its symptoms.=20
As far as he was concerned, he didn't have the disease because he didn't
feel any of its effects. He was determined to continue his music career. But
his condition worsened.=20
At his last concert on Oct. 25 in Flint, Mich., he almost fell while
bending to retrieve his guitar pick. At first the audience thought he was
joking around, but he assured them he truly ill and told them of his=
ailment.=20
He later went into seclusion with his family while getting medical advice
and considering his future. He was confident his condition would improve.=20
<snip>
11/14/97=20
=A9 1997 The Nashville Banner
=20
=20
