Category: Celebrity Health

Cheney transplant puts spotlight on heart failure treatments

Former United States vice president Dick Cheney’s ongoing recovery from a long awaited and “lifesaving” heart transplant, combined with his 20-month survival after receiving the HeartMate II — a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) — has rekindled interest in interventions that can extend the lives of patients with advanced heart failure.

Doctors interviewed by MedPage Today, Reuters, Agence France Presse, Associated Press and the New York Times all agree that Cheney’s situation has enhanced public awareness of advanced heart failure and available treatment options.

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Parkinson’s disease treatments progress, thanks to Michael J. Fox’s activism

When he first noticed his little finger shaking, Michael J. Fox put it down to a hangover. A year later — at just 30 years old — he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

The Canadian-American teen idol of the 1980s, famous for his roles in the smash hit trilogy Back to the Future underwent a 360-degree turnaround. From being a movie star for five years and feeling “lucky” he was suddenly “peculiar.” Sure, he was used to being stared at, but this time, it was different. “I hated the way it (Parkinson’s) made me look,” he thought. “That means that I hated me.”

But Fox has come a long way from feeling down in the dumps since he was first diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease in 1991. Starting with a public disclosure in 1998, he then went on to become an activist for research toward finding a cure. This led him to create the Michael J. Fox Foundation — today, the leading Parkinson’s fundraiser in the United States that has been able to put US$140 million into research in the last eight years alone. On March 5, 2010, Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet gave him a honoris causa doctorate for his work in advocating for a Parkinson’s cure .

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Celebrities With Bipolar Disorder: Jean Claude Van Damme, Van Gogh, Sting. Belgian-born martial artist, actor and director Jean-Claude Van Damme, best known for the 1989 action film Kickboxer that catapulted him to riches and fame, struggles with bipolar disorder.

Like the character he plays in that movie, kickboxer Kurt Sloane, Van Damme knows firsthand how to freefall into the dumps then skyrocket into riches and fame, and then plunge back to hell again.

Extreme highs and lows have been an intimate part of Van Damme’s life — coping with teenage depression using karate, ballet and “rosy dreams,” falling into a downward spiral of cocaine addiction, grossing over US$100 million worldwide in a single film, 1994’s Timecop, being a sex symbol.

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It’s been 10 years since ‘Baywatch’ star Pamela Anderson — famous for her stunning body and for being a favorite Playmate in the 1990s first disclosed that she has hepatitis C — contracted from sharing a tattoo needle with her ex-husband, rock star Tommy Lee.

A lot of nasty things and snide comments have been said since about the Canadian-American Hollywood actress, but the fact is, her life since her tragic disclosure is proof that people can still live a full life, even with this serious liver disease.

What is hepatitis C?
Caused by a virus that infects the liver, Hepatitis C can lead to permanent liver damage as well as cirrhosis, liver cancer — and eventually, liver failure.

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Famous People Who Had Heart Bypass Surgery: Bill Clinton. He’d been complaining of chest discomfort over several days, and on Feb. 11, 2010, Former President Bill Clinton underwent a successful heart procedure at the Columbia campus of the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

After putting Mr. Clinton through a battery of tests — including an angiogram, an electrocardiogram and blood tests — doctors found no evidence of heart attack or damage to the heart but noticed that one of the four bypass grafts he had received in 2004 was completely blocked. The surgeons then inserted two stents into his native coronary artery to increase blood flow to the heart.

“President Clinton is in good spirits and will continue to focus on the work of his foundation and Haiti’s relief and long-term recovery efforts,” said his counselor, Douglas J. Band, in a statement released by the former president’s office.

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