Chronic Disease Among the Stars!

Harrison Ford ~Suffered from depression in his youth.


Diana Princess of Wales ~ Suffered from Depression and was Bulimic


Michael J. Fox ~ Parkinsons Disease


John F. Kennedy~ Had Asthma


Albert Einstein~ Dyslexia (a learning disability) (Weird Right!?)


Tom Cruise~ Dyslexia


Walt Disney~ Dyslexia (Amazing!?)


David Beckham~ OCD (learn more about OCD here)


Jessica Alba~ OCD


Donald Trump~ OCD


Cameron Diaz~ OCD


Michael Jackson~ OCD and BDD (learn more about BDD here)


Charlie Sheen~ OCD


Stevie Wonder~Destructive Ocular Disorder


Thomas Edison~ Deafness


Thanks to http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_0060.shtml

Movies about or involving Chronic Diseases

The following movies have themes or topics about chronic illnesses... They sound very inspiring as I have only watched a few of them myself... Enjoy!


1) Philadelphia



When a man with AIDS is fired by a conservative law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.

2) My Sisters Keeper




 

 Anna Fitzgerald looks to earn medical emancipation from her parents who until now have relied on their youngest child to help their leukemia-stricken daughter Kate remain alive.

3) Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Four friends (Carmen, Tibby, Lena, and Bridget) are facing their first ever summer apart from each other. Before they leave each other, they discover magical pants that miraculously fit all of them. They decide that the Pants should circulate among them throughout the summer. Bridget is off to soccer camp in Baja, Lena's off to Greece to visit her grandparents, Carmen'sgoing to visit her dad, and Tibby is staying home and working at Wallman's where she meets and befriends a young girl that has been diagnosed with leukemia.

4)Little Miss Sunshine

Sheryl Hoover is an overworked mother of two children. Her brother Frank is a gay scholar and is temporarily living at home with the family after a suicide attempt. Her husband Richard is striving to build a career as a motivational speaker. Dwayne, Sheryl's son, is a troubled teenager who has taken a vow of silence until he can accomplish his dream of becoming a pilot. Richard's foul-mouthed father, Edwin, a World War II veteran recently evicted from a retirement home for using and selling, lives with the family. He is close with his seven-year-old granddaughter, Olive. The family takes a road trip so Olive can participate in a national beauty pageant.




5) Little Fockers


In this sequel to Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers, Greg and his wife Pam, daughter of retired CIA agent Jack, have five-year-old twins, Henry and Samantha. Jack begins to experience significant heart problems and appoints Greg to the new head of the family, the "Godfocker". However, he starts to have doubts about his decision, because he thinks Greg is having an affair. After all the events behind them... does Greg Focker have what it takes?



Thanks to imbd.com for the pictures and synopsis!

How to Raise Money For Chronic Disease

Here are a few ideas and pointers that can help you to raise money and donate.... You may think that it doesn't matter and it will never affect you but there is a 95% chance that it will affect your family whether the patient is you or a member of your family. If we can raise enough money for research, we can beat chronic illness once and for all. If we achieve this goal, maybe you or your loved ones will not have to suffer and die at a early age anymore!



How Can I Help Find the Cure to Chronic Illnesses:



1. Get your School Involved
-Talk to the principal or a teacher to see what your school can do to support the cause
-Events by your school could include...

• A Run for the Cure
• Parents and students donating
• Crazy hair, clothes or other fun days where people donate money

2. Have a Lemonade Stand!
- Set up a table on the corner of your street, make some lemonade and sell it!
- Remember to tell the costumers that the moneys going to a charity! (That way they will want to donate more.)



 3. Have a Car Wash!
-Gather some friends, put on a bathing suit, grab some sponges and ask to wash peoples cars!
-You will make lots of money and your parents will be thankful for their nice clean cars


Their are many more great ideas of how to raise money... from selling seat cushions at sporting events to having a "Walk-a-thon", there are so many ways you can pitch in to finding a cure for chronic diseases. Once you get the money, take it in or mail it to a charity. Depending on what disease you want to support, you can find charities to donate to online.

Interesting Facts: Chronic disease

According to National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week....

• Nearly one in two people in the U.S have a chronic condition
• By 2020 nearly 157 million Americans will be affected with a chronic illness
• Sixty percent of chronically ill patients are between the ages of 18 and 64
• 90% of seniors have at least one chronic disease and 77% have two or more chronic diseases
• Various studies have reported that physical illness or uncontrollable physical pain are major factors in up to 70% of suicides
• and more than 50% of these suicidal patients were under 35 years of age
• Four in five health care dollars (78%) are spent on behalf of people with chronic conditions
• Cancer kills 29% of the population every year

Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's is a disorder in the central nervous system the impairs your motor system which is the path that the brain uses to tell your limbs to move.  The most obvious symptoms are motor-related, including tremor, rigidity, slowness of movement, postural instability and impaired speech because of throat tightness. The physical symptoms are nothing compared to the pain that the patients is in caused by the tightness of muscles. Ages 60 and up seem to be the most vulnerable to PD (Parkinson's) although there have been cases in younger people. Most people have no specific known cause for getting PD but in some patients, it is due to their genetic makeup or a gene mutation. Today, there is no cure for Parkinson's disease, but medications, surgery and multidisciplinary management can provide relief from the symptoms.

There are many foundations striving to find a cure for PD. One of the more widely known charities is the Michael J. Fox Fund. It has raised more than $228 million dollars for research. With help from people like you, we can over come Parkinson's Disease. Go HERE to donate to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

http://www.michaeljfox.org/

Parkinson Poem

I Will Win is a Poem Submitted by Kenneth Nye Relating to Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis. You can look forward to hearing more about Parkinson's disease in a future post. Enjoy!

 

I Will Win! 

 

It begins as nothing more than
a feeling that something is wrong.
(Wonderful, how the body talks to you.)
At first. there are things I can’t identify.
Then, reaching for a napkin, I see it---
a hitch,
a ratcheting of my unfolding arm
as I extend it across the table.

Sitting on his examination stool,
the doctor wheels over to
look me in the eye.
"Mr. Nye, you have Parkinson’s disease."

It doesn't register.
"Parkinson’s is a chronic, progressive disease…."
Is he talking about me?
A chronic disease.
It has no cure?
A progressive disease.
It will get worse?
It doesn't register.....at first.

When it does, there is no future.
Nothing is fun.
What's the point?

But in time I learn that
feeling sorry for myself
doesn’t make me feel any better;
that there is
absolutely
nothing
I can do
to make it go away.

So I learn to live with it,
live around it,
ignore it,
occasionally tell it to go do something
obscene,
show it off and then put it to shame.
It's like living with a roommate
I can't stand.

And I learn that the only way
to win
is to treat it with distain,
to concede lost ground but to shrug it off,
to use it as a lesson in biology and anatomy,
and as evidence of the miracle
of the human body.

And I also learn that my world,
even with Parkinson’s,
is gloriously full
of family and friends,
love and devotion,
beauty wherever I look,
joy,
and, always and everywhere,
nature’s wonders.

This is not a battle of the flesh.
This is a battle of the spirit.

So, as the years move along
and my chronic, progressive companion
continues to weedle his way into my life,
I will adjust
with a shrug.

And I will win.

Asthma: The symptoms, causes and treatment

Asthma is a common but nagging chronic disease where your airways to your lungs become inflamed therefore obstructing your ability to breath properly. The symptoms of wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath may act up at a certain time of the year or doing a certain activity and then go away for a while in most asthma patients. People with serious or continuous symptoms may get treatment such as an inhaler with special medication that is inhaled into the lungs during an asthma attack. The best way, however, to treat asthma is to avoid allergens or heavy exercise for long periods of time. These things (and others) trigger asthma attacks in most patients.


Asthma Attack: What is it?


A asthma attack is when symptoms worsen suddenly causing the body to struggle from the lack of oxygen. This would be a time where a patient should use their inhaler. You can tell when a person is having a asthma attack when they are completely out of breath and don't seem to be able to catch it and their skin may turn a shade of blue due to lack of oxygen. If the patient is not able to recover or does not have their inhaler, they should be rushed to emergency!

Mental Illness: Depression

When people think about depression, they think about feeling sad or upset because they have not experienced a real depression disorder. Unlike just feeling sad or moody, depression  disorders are a serious illness that can affect thoughts, behaviors, feelings and physical well being. It may include feelings of sadness, anxiety, emptiness, hopelessness, worthlessness, guilt, irritability, or restlessness. Depressed people may lose interest in things they once enjoyed, and they may feel tired or restless. People with extreme depression may contemplate or attempt suicide because they cannot find the will to live anymore. The goal is to catch these cases of depression before the person can hit that wall hard enough to want to die.


Anti-depressants are a psychiatric medication that alleviates mood disorders... these help with severely depressed people but there are usually many side effects to these pills. You can also help depressed people by taking them to see and phsycologist who with help them to think positively and change their outlook on life. Other than these treatments there is no way to make mental illness' go away and therefore is no cure.


If you are suffering from depression, talk to a counselor, parent or doctor to hear your options for treatment. Remember.... YOU ARE VALUED!


-Emma
sources: Wikipedia: Depression (mood)

Cancer

This is a excerpt from a website I found. It is about how painful Cancer is and how painful treatment can be! Here is the site if you would like to see more... http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/sad/cancer-poems.asp

Cancer, the dreaded "C" word. It has become such an epidemic in our society that people are loath to even mention its name. Cancer is a disease that can affect many different parts of the body. Some of these diseases are more serious than others. It is not only the disease that is painful but also the many way of treating it. Radiation treatments may kill the cancer but are also dangerous for the body. Chemotherapy comes with many side affects such as hair loss and severe nausea. The many faces of this disease challenge an individual to show their fighting spirit and will to live.

Standing up to Cancer!

Below are all the ribbons for cancer. Many People think that Only Breast Cancer has a ribbon, the pink one. People wear a pink ribbon over their heart to promote helping to find a cure for Breast Cancer. This is the same reason why people where a poppy over their heart on Remembrance day. There are different colors for different types of cancer but if you are supporting the research for all cancers, wear a  lavender Ribbon. These ribbons bring attention to Cancers in the hope that one day we will find a cure!