LUPUS
ERYTHEMATOSUS
More people have it
than know about it.
Lupus Erythematosus affects an
estimated 500.000 Americans.
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East Detroit, Michigan 48021
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Battling ALS
Continued from preceding page
Equally distressing was the
erosion of her personal life.
Singing, dancing, dining and
dating all went by the board.
Since so much socialization
revolves around eating, "the
disease took away my social
life." Particularly hard to ac-
cept was the fact that she
could no longer tell stories to
her grandchildren and make
them laugh. "I always talked
a lot. That was the hardest
part. I always had a lot of
stories to tell. So I really turn-
ed my anger on what I was,"
she explains. "Now I have to
find a different way of life."
• "I worked hard to build up
the business to where I am.
Now I do not write up as
much new business as I take
care of renewals," she says.
Equally distressing was the
erosion of her personal life.
Singing, dancing, dining and
dating all went by the board.
Since so much socialization
revolves around eating, "the
disease took away my social
life." Particularly hard to ac-
cept was the fact that she
could no longer tell stories to
her grandchildren and make
_them laugh. "I always talked
a lot. That was the hardest
part. I always had a lot of
stories to tell. So I really turn-
ed my anger on what I was,"
she explains. "Now I have to
find a different way of life."
"Don't let the doctor destroy
you," she advises fellow suf-
ferers, quoting Bernard
Siegel, whose book on self-
healing, Love, Miracles and
_Medicine, had become her "bi-
ble!' There is as yet no cure
for ALS. "But the way it is
presented makes a dif-
ference," she affirms. "The
doctor you have plays the
most important part in your
healing."
At Henry Ford Hospital's
ALS Clinic, she finds en-
couragement to make the
most of every moment. She
has also found invaluable the
support group organized
through ALS of Michigan, a
non-profit, volunteer associa-
tion which provides informa-
tion, counseling and support
to ALS patients and their
families, as well as money for
research.
There are seven members in
the group to which Mrs.
Leiderman belongs. "I feel .
like family with them," she
says. "We talk very openly
and we all feel we help each
other."
Shared laughter, she has
discovered, can be very
therapeutic. "I try hard to
laugh and I talk on paper
with friends as if they can
hear me. I joke about having
no voice. Not that there isn't
pain inside, but the laughing
and joking make it easier."
Mrs. Leiderman keeps a positive attitude.
By joking, Mrs. Leiderman
can sometimes ease the hurt
of insensitive behavior and
painful situations, such as the
time a man yelled at her for
using a handicapped-parking
space. When she didn't
answer, he bellowed, "Can't
you talk?"
Trying to diffuse the pain
through laughter doesn't
always work. "I try to laugh,"
she says. "People relate easier
to a smile. But this does not
mean I do not cry or get angry
or have other normal reac-
tions. If I need a cry, I cry."
"For a while I didn't cry,"
Mrs. Leiderman remembers.
"It made it very hard on my
family when I finally broke.
They did not know the pain I
was experiencing and it made
them feel helpless."
Her illness, she realizes, "is
very hard on friends and rela-
tions. They have to be work-
ed with too, so as to be able to
communicate. A lot of my
friends cannot handle it.
They stay away and I under-
stand and am not angry. We
all • have our own limits of
what we can tolerate."
People in general, she has
found, have been kind.
Strangers as well as clients
and friends have come to her
support. "I ran up to a woman
in the street (in Rocheater,
N.Y., after hearing the
diagnosis) and spent the day
and night with her and her
husband," Mrs. Leiderman
recalls.
Social isolation is the thing
she dreads the most. To keep
it at bay she stays as active as
she can, continuing favorite
pastimes and looking for new
ways to improve the quality of
her life. A visit to camp which
teaches sign language to peo-
ple who work with the deaf
"put a whole new meaning in
my life," she says. "Now my
family thinks we should all go
to school and learn to sign."
Her experiences provide
material for her book.
Finishing it is important to
her in the effort to find a cure
for ALS.
Until science finds an
answer, Carolyn Liederman
will think positively and
make the most of life. "I think
I am lucky. I have not had an
easy life but I think that I
was gifted with the ability to
cope."
.
❑
Space Research
Program Begins
Waltham, Mass. (JTA) —
Brandeis University is laun-
ching a training program for
space shuttle astronauts.
The Ashton Graybiel
Spatial Orientation
Laboratory at Brandeis
designed a visual-perception
experiment to determine how
space travel affects vision.