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apnea poster boy? -- long

Posted by Dan Morris on September 30, 2002 at 17:21:42:

Over the years, people on this forum have said how useful it would be if apnea had a famous actor or actress as its "poster boy." An article that ran in our local paper in Boise Sunday, Sept. 29, may point out such an opportunity. You can read the story by accessing the paper at idahostatesman.com and in the archives search box entering "Actor gets help for sleep apnea in Boise."

Here are the highlights:

"George Kennedy has played tough guys for almost four decades, including the prison inmate in "Cool Hand Luke" that earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting actor. But sleep apnea nearly destroyed the burly 77-year-old actor, making him so weak and tired that a walk from his car to a table inside a restaurant was a strenuous activity.

Kennedy, who moved from Los Angeles to Ada County in May, is now getting help for the disease that causes its victims to stop breathing in their sleep. A patient at Saint Alphonsus regional M3edical Center, he is expected to go home Monday."

The article, written by one of my former journalism students at Boise State University, says physicians diagnosed Kennedy with apnea when he needed hip replacement surgery. They said the surgery would be too risky until he got the apnea under control and, instead, they gave him an emergency triple bypass because apnea had weakened his lungs, kidneys and heart.

"I've offered Dr. (Janat) O'Donnell (sleep specialist) and Dr. (Andrew) Forbes my services free for life to be their poster boy," Kennedy said. "To makes folks aware that there's a shadowy bad guy out there, sleep apnea, who attacks soundlessly every time you slumber. It's time to put a laser light on him."

Interesting. The reporter who wrote the story knows all about my own apnea, though she didn't contact me about this story.

So maybe someone at Stanford should contact Kennedy?

Dan

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