Celebrities and MS

July 1, 2009 5:07 PM

One recent celebrity death that most likely fell under the U.S. radar was that of Terry Black, who in the early 1960s was Canada's answer to Fabian. Growing up listening to CKLW, I remember Terry Black for "Goin' Down (The Road to L.A.)", recorded with his wife, Laurel Ward. Black had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis just a year ago, and apparently died from complications of the disease.

MS, like many autoimmune diseases, affects more females than males. Whites are twice as likely as other races to develop the disease; but, oddly enough, folks living in Africa and Japan rarely get MS, yet it's not unusual for African- and Japanese-Americans to be diagnosed with the disease. A short list of other celebrity MS patients includes Exene Cervenka, former lead singer of the New Wave band X, Annete Funicello, Montel Williams, Alan Osmond, and David "Squiggy" Lander.

posted by Oriole Adams (15 comments total)

I believe this was Terry Black's biggest hit, while he was still a teenager.

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posted by evilcolonel at 5:24 PM on July 1

Discography, etc.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 5:27 PM on July 1

Presently, three of the last five FPPs are obituary posts. This is getting a bit out of hand. (I understand that this post also addresses MS, but it is framed more as an obituary.) No disrespect intended to Mr. Black or poster, but the front page has been looking like a cemetary lately.

Nevertheless, .
posted by chmmr at 5:43 PM on July 1

Teri Garr also suffers from MS.
posted by beautifulcheese at 6:30 PM on July 1

Take your Vitamin D people.
posted by docpops at 8:12 PM on July 1

Can't Richard Pryor get a shout out? Other famous people with MS here.
posted by hammerthyme at 8:46 PM on July 1

I was talking about MS with my physical therapist this morning. Turns out vitamin D IS a big suspect in multiple sclerosis, but there are other factors too. If we knew what some of the other factors were, we might know why Spokane is such an MS hotspot. I know at least five people with the disease.
posted by faceonmars at 9:40 PM on July 1

Take your Vitamin D people.

If they're reading this, it's mostly too late. Unless we have a lot of kids and teenagers present.
posted by Justinian at 9:48 PM on July 1

Turns out vitamin D IS a big suspect in multiple sclerosis, but there are other factors too. If we knew what some of the other factors were, we might know why Spokane is such an MS hotspot.

As far as I know Spokane isn't particularly a hotspot except in the sense that every place in a northerly latitude that doesn't get a lot of sun is a hotspot. Northerly latitude + cloud cover means vitamin D deficiency. Seattle, parts of the upper Midwest, parts of Scandinavia, etc.

But you're correct that there are other factors at play. If it were something as simple as a vitamin deficiency we'd almost certainly have nailed it already and every kid above the Mason Dixon line would be taking a Vitamin D supplement daily. But there are clearly genetic factors at work and very likely some sort of infectious disease aspect. Not Lyme, as the internet nutters will usually tell you. But certainly the examples presented by islands like the Shetlands and Orkneys during and after World War 2 are suggestive. It's probably something like a vitamin deficiency in someone with a genetic disposition and set off by a disease trigger.
posted by Justinian at 9:56 PM on July 1

What is this, the Rapture or something?
posted by chillmost at 11:52 PM on July 1

Presently, three of the last five FPPs are obituary posts.

It's really amazing how much power Michael Jackson had in the collective noosphere. I mean, the news of his relatively unremarkable death has spawned a level of media attention that has spilled over to promote any kind of news about a famous person dying.

If I were a celebrity and I wanted to die, I'd do it now.

Another reason I don't want to be a celebrity.
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:00 AM on July 2

To get back to Terry Black, he appears to have been, like Fabian, almost entirely lacking in any kind of talent. But unlike Fabian, he had at least one great song: "Unless You Care" is a fine single, and Glenn Campbell's guitar accents are an excellent hook.

On the topic of MS, there is an intriguing theory that it is sexually transmitted.
posted by Faze at 4:13 AM on July 2

Vitamin deficiency issues are as far from exotic and as it gets. Other than folate deficiency and neural tube defects there isn't much discussed about the vitamin deficiency effects on the body. And yet it's been known for well over a decade that Vitamin D supplementation reduces falls and fractures in elderly populations and that the RDA in kids was far too low (hence the recent, almost silent revision to increase it to 800 from 400IU in kids). We still do very little to screen for B12 deficiency in elderly populations, even though it's apparent that it contributes to cognitive decline and neuromuscular decline.
posted by docpops at 7:13 AM on July 2

Faze: I think they're reading too much into some indirect evidence such as the Orkney and Shetland island experiences. Disease component, sure, but I don't think the evidence that its sexually transmitted is very good at all. Far less convincing than the vitamin D evidence, for example.
posted by Justinian at 9:49 AM on July 2

Sad, but I'm secretly happy I misread as Terry Jacks.

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:)
posted by HyperBlue at 1:56 PM on July 3