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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) > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++