CNN article - Tamara Dobson death - MS

[euphoniaa]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/05/obit.dobson.ap/index.html

I just caught the words "multiple sclerosis" at the end of this report on TV this morning, so I looked up the article on CNN. It's weird how you feel a tiny connection to anyone dx'd with MS.

'Cleopatra Jones' actress dead
POSTED: 7:57 a.m. EDT, October 5, 2006

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- Tamara Dobson, the tall, stunning model-turned-actress who portrayed a strong female role as Cleopatra Jones in two "blaxploitation" films, has died.

Dobson, 59, died Monday of complications from pneumonia and multiple sclerosis at the Keswick Multi-Care Center, where she had lived for the past two years, her publicist said.

At 6 feet, 2 inches tall, Dobson was striking as the kung-fu fighting government agent Cleopatra Jones in 1973. She reprised the role in 1975's "Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold."

"She was not afraid to start a trend," said her brother, Peter Dobson, of Houston. "She designed a lot of the clothing that so many women emulated."

Dobson also appeared in "Come Back, Charleston Blue," "Norman, Is That You?" "Murder at the World Series" and "Chained Heat."

She had TV roles in the early 1980s in "Jason of Star Command" and "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

Dobson lived most of her adult life in New York, her family said. She was diagnosed six years ago with multiple sclerosis.

[lady_express_44]

Quite young for such complications, eh? :(

Cherie

[Momofthreeunder5]

Being new to the MS world, on average, how long do people live. I am 29, been on copaxone for a year and a half and take three seizure meds. I am wondering how long I may have. Not worring, just wondering.

[BBS1951]

Usually people die with MS, not "of " MS.

Usually ppl with MS live average lenght of life.

Obvioulsy there are exceptions.

[cricket52]

Hi Momofthreeunder5:

Goodness, if you have three little ones and MS you have your hands full.

No one knows how long they are going to live - MS is not a death sentence, it is a life sentence.

Ms. Dobson was dx'd at age 53. There are different kinds of MS, perhaps she had the most serious kind, since she had been in a long-term care facility for two years.

Types of MS:

http://ms.about.com/cs/aboutms/a/Types.html
http://www.mssociety.org.uk/about_ms/first_questions/life_expectancy.html

Hope those links help. :)

[0357]

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/Brochures-ManagingProg1.asp

http://www.ms-gateway.com/start.jsp?/resources/understandingms/diagnostingms/scale.jsp
Click on 'What is EDDS'
Scroll down and see where death is uncommon and scroll down further to see the additional breakdowns and the reasons for death.

The NMSS says 25% of the people with MS can have shortened live spans due to MS complications. I believe it was mentioned on the first link the types of MS there are; Progressive Relapsing is the fastest to progress. People start out with this type of MS as it describes.

[agate]

I've personally known about 5 people with MS who are now dead. One was in her 70s, but the other three were 59, 61, 63, and 65, as I recall.

[elizabeth]

I think it's rather interesting to read obits where a person is said to have died from MS. Itis usually more accurate to say that a person dies of complications of conditions that are worsened by having MS -- and my guess if that Tamara Dobson's case is one of those. Even people with extraordinarily aggressive cases of primary progressive MS rarely die "of MS": they die of pneumonias and illness that are set up by the ravages that the MS wreaks.

For most of us, our life expectancies are pretty much identical to those of people who do not have MS, which raise a really interesting question, at least for me. (I'm still a "recovering" lawyer, after all ;) )

Why is it so darned near impossible for people with MS to obtain life insurance after diagnosis here in the US?

The extremely few people of whom I am aware who have secured ANY life insurance coverage have had to pay outrageous amounts for extremely limited term coverage. Whole life coverage is entirely unobtainable, to the best of my knowledge, post-diagnosis. If in fact our moribidity and mortality figures are comparable to those of the average population, our insurability should be the same as well, unless we are being discriminated against in the worst possible way . Of course, people are discriminated against by insurers -- that's what insurance does, after all is said and done, but with life insurance coverage, it seems to be unwarranted to discrimiate against people with MS as policy holders unless the concern is risk of suicide, which can be covered by rider. It's unconscionable to make ALL coverage unavilable, simply because of an MS diagnosis.

It's sad to see Tamara Dobson died. She was really great.

[smhiles]

Yes, I have seen the article. It is sad, she was a beautiful woman from Baltimore. I am from MD orginally, also. I am sure her immune system was weaken by the pneumonia played more of a part to her death. My prayers go out to her family.

[Abby2006]

When I was dx'd in 02 I got a written report that had 'Morbidity' and it said very poor thinks that means quality of life doesn't it?

Abby

[0357]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morbidity

Morbidity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

In medicine, epidemiology and actuarial science, the term morbidity can refer to

* the state of being diseased (from Latin morbidus: sick, unhealthy),
* the degree or severity of a disease,
* the prevalence of a disease: the total number of cases in a particular population at a particular point in time,
* the incidence of a disease: the number of new cases in a particular population during a particular time interval.
* disability irrespective of cause (e.g., disability caused by accidents).

The term morbidity rate can refer either to the incidence rate or to the prevalence rate of a disease. Compare this with the mortality rate of a condition, which is the number of people dying during a given time interval, divided by the total number of people in the population. Morbidity is often what is measured by ICU scoring systems.