My father suffered nearly 20 years with Parkinsons disease. It is debilitating, insidious, depressing and, ultimately, fatal. It is, however, not as hard to watch as it is to endure. Watching it progress, however, is almost as unbearable. The fact that some commentators suggest that Robin Williams tragic suicide was cowardly, or reflective of the inherent depression borne by being liberal, is abhorrent and unforgivable. Several years ago, one of those commentators went so far as to say that Michael J. Fox, who is courageously fighting Parkinsons, exaggerated, faked his symptoms, or purposely didnt take his required medications before addressing Congressional committee to get more funding for stem-cell research. That comment led me to go on the Imus show to issue a stern rebuke. Parkinsons cannot be faked, cannot be cured and cannot be relied upon to degrade only ones physical capacities. There is a form of dementia that can take hold during ones battle, though, unless Mr. Williams was in the later states of the disease, he was unlikely to have reached that point just yet. He may well have known that, in addition to his other maladies, such a fate could, however, await him. But as Michael has noted, symptoms of the disease, and the side effects of the medication, can be paralyzing before the disease exacts it ultimate toll. Add that to depression, addiction, and other issues, and you have a highly toxic concoction that may simply be far too much for any human to bear. That so many are willing to judge without knowing the facts, the circumstances, the medical realities, is testimony to the talk first, verify later, punditry that dominates so much of our media today. Unless you are in the room, unless you know the truth, unless you have been there, and done that, keep your opinion, and I use that word generously, to yourself.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 21:52:23 +0000