Arts & Entertainment
ORTHODONTICS
Beyond The Suffering
Local writer discovers
"the gifts" of chronic illness.
ADULTS & CHILDREN
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
Steven M. Lash, DDS, MS
Rebecca L. Rubin, DMD, MS
ill Sklar recalls a far-reaching
turning point in her personal
battle against Crohn's disease.
Besides affecting her outlook, it came to
affect her writing career.
The turning point occurred when
Sklar was 29 and in the hospital cop-
ing with yet another round of acute
digestive distress. It dawned on her that
illness brought positive results that she
never would have experienced without
it.
Sklar, now 38, had wondered if she
was the only person who had such
deeply positive feelings and started
addressing the issue with other sur-
vivors of life-threatening illnesses,
including cancer, heart disease, AIDS
and multiple sclerosis.
As her contacts with survivors kept
growing, she found many outlook soul
mates and turned the attitudes into her
just released third book, The Five Gifts
of Illness: A Reconsideration (Marlowe
& Co.; $23.95).
The gifts, defined by the survivors
and explored by the author, include
enhanced relationships, time, altru-
ism, emotions and goals. Relationships,
especially involving family members
and friends who offered help during
hospitalizations, became gifts that Sklar
particularly cherishes.
"I got so much input from the people
I interviewed, and they shared such
incredible wisdom with me',' says Sklar,
a former Detroit Jewish News reporter
who now specializes in medical writ-
ing. "It was a gift to be able to speak to
these people and to weave their infor-
mation into the book:'
Sklar, a Huntington Woods resident,
looked to family, friends, neighbors and
bloggers to find survivors. Eventually,
she spoke with more than 100 people
either considered cured or in remission.
"The five gifts emerged as I spoke
with people," says Sklar, encouraged by
her husband, Joel, and son Jonah, 11.
"I never really thought about the emo-
tional part before. It started with the
first interview:"
The local author, who spent between
45 and 90 minutes talking with each
survivor, also quotes professionals
j
248-851-7272
6177 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield, Michigan
www.lashorthodontics.com
members American Association of Orthodontists
1197850
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July 12 2007
THE FRU
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ILliNESS
A RECONSIDERATION
jILL
Jill Sklar:
Neil Rudin:
"Writing is part
"Laughter is
of the healing."
important."
working with patients and references
research studies.
Neil Rudin, who grew up in Detroit
and now divides his time between
Buffalo, N.Y., and Naples, Fla., added his
comments to the project.
"It's always difficult to discuss pain-
ful memories, but I thought Jill was
pursuing an important topic:' says
Rudin, a retired university administra-
tor whose career ended because of
heart disease."I consider the effects of
my illness positive because I became a
better person:'
Rudin, who was told his death was
imminent when he was 55, has passed
his eight-year mark to the astonish-
ment of doctors. Although keeping to
activity limitations, he has adjusted to
a new lifestyle that allows him to write
humorous stories and present them
before groups.
"I began to take life less for granted,
and I have a greater sense of love for
family and friends;' he says. "I used