Document text
'Laverne & Shirley' actor's MS story hits chord with local crowd Mail Tribune / Jim Craven David Lander, who played Squiggy on the old "Laverne & Shirley" TV show, used humor and personal anecdotes to shed light on multiple sclerosis in a Medford talk Sunday. By BILL KETTLER If laughter is the best medicine, 200 people who have multiple sclerosis are feeling better today. Actor David Lander made them laugh Sunday when he came to Medford to talk about his life with multiple sclerosis. Lander lied about his disease for 16 years, fearing that Hollywood would reject him. He finally came out of hiding in 1999 after a colleague asked him point-blank if he had MS. Lander made people laugh on TV for seven years as Squiggy in the "Laverne & Shirley" series. His stories about feigning drunkenness to hide the real reasons behind his stumbling gait made people smile, but he acknowledged the isolation that comes with hiding a disease that affects about 400,000 people across the United States and as many as 300 in Jackson County. "Having it and not telling anybody is downright lonely," he said, "because there's nobody's shoulder to cry on." Tales about his struggles with MS hit a responsive note with people who endure many of the same ordeals. "I started to notice that crossing the street was like an Olympic event," he quipped, recalling the early days of his illness in 1983. People came from as far as Crescent City, Roseburg and Klamath Falls to hear Lander and Dr. Dennis Bourdette, a neurologist from Oregon Health Sciences University. Bourdette opened the program with a discussion of how the disease occurs and talked about new research findings. He said "rogue white blood cells" cause the disease by attacking the tissue that insulates the nervous system. "They're a very small percentage," he said. "It's like the criminal element in society." Multiple sclerosis is not fatal, but it can be disabling and debilitating. Symptoms vary tremendously among individuals. Some people have trouble walking, or can't walk at all. Others suffer from fatigue or have vision problems. Some have occasional flare-ups but carry on nearly normal lives. Others deteriorate steadily. Bourdette said women comprise two-thirds of all MS patients, and genes make some people more likely to contract the disease, although it is not passed on directly like an inherited illness. "Five percent of people who have it have a close relative who has it," he said. "Not just anybody gets it. You have to be predisposed. If your mom had it, your chance of getting it may be one in 50, compared to one in 1,000 for the general population." Bourdette said drugs that did not exist 10 years ago have given MS patients new hope. There's no one best drug for all patients, however, and people respond differently to each drug depending on how far their illness has progressed. The drugs cost as much as $10,000 per year, but manufacturers provide assistance for many people who lack health insurance. The program was supported by a grant from Biogen, a pharmaceutical company that manufactures Avonex, one of the drugs that has been effective for managing MS. Multiple sclerosis patients talked of the emotional burden of managing a debilitating disease. "The hardest thing is the fatigue," said Kay Miller, of Grants Pass, who was diagnosed 18 months ago. "It's hard to get people to understand it's just something that happened, that it's not contagious and that it affects everybody who has it differently. Some people can have it for 30 years and be fine. Some people can have it for two years and be in a wheelchair." "I get very frustrated because my energy level is so low," said Rosemary Jumbeck, a Medford woman who has had MS for 34 years. "It's difficult for me to walk. It takes me a lot longer to accomplish small things. It's a disease of frustration for you and your whole family. "You can't do the things you could do before and your family gets frustrated. They remember you as you were before." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.