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firechief - 08 Dec 2004 21:07 GMT

SCLERODERMA

Scleroderma, or progressive systemic sclerosis, is one of
the lesser know rheumatic diseases. Like the others, it can
affect people in different ways and to different degrees.
Because scleroderma is a disease of the connective tissue,
it may affect the skin, blood vessels, joints and internal
organs such as the kidneys, lungs, stomach, and bowel. The
word scleroderma literally means "hard skin" and refers to
the stiff and tight skin that most people with this disease
develop over their fingers, face, and arms.

The first symptom is usually Raynaud's phenomenon, named
after the man who first ddescribed it. It refers to an
extreme sensitivity to cold that is most obvious in the
fingers. The narrowing of blood vessels in the fingers
and the resulting, greatly reduced blood suppy cause the
fingers to turn very pale in response to cold or emotional
upset. Later they turn blue as fresh blood enters the hand
but can't escape because of the constriction of the veins.
Often tingling, numbness, or a cold sensation occur. When
the hands warm up, the blood vessels eventually open and
the skin color returns to normal as the blood supply to
the fingrs improves.

Sometimes all it takes to trigger it is walking into a
cold room or reaching into a refrigerator.

Sometimes, muscle weakness is an early symptom of
scleroderma, and some people with the disease also develop
small, white calcium deposits on their fingers. As time
passes, ulcers or sores may develop on the tips of the
fingers or toes. The skin on the face may eventually
become tight, creating difficulty in opening the mouth wide.

(From the Arthritis Foundation)

OBITUARY

Lucien Hold; early champion of top comics; 57

By Jesse McKinley
December 8, 2004

Lucien A. Hold, a comedy-club talent booker and manager who
helped discover and promote the early careers of New York
comedians Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld and Adam Sandler, died
Nov. 23 at his home in Manhattan. He was 57.

The cause was complications of scleroderma, an autoimmune
disease that affects the connective tissues, said Michael
O'Brien, a friend.

Mr. Hold's domain was the Comic Strip, a club in Manhattan
known for its eclectic roster of performers, from major names
to open-mike amateurs. Mr. Hold built the club in 1975 out of
the remains of a defunct bar, carving a small stage (and even
smaller backstage) out of the bar's back room.

From its inception, Mr. Hold was not only the club's chief
carpenter but also its gatekeeper, culling talent from
thousands of videotapes, audiotapes and five-minute auditions
offered up by the city's growing comic corps.

One of those early comics was a skinny, foulmouthed Brooklyn
teenager who arrived at the club in the late 1970s and
demanded a slot. His name was Eddie Murphy, and he was soon
one of America's hottest young comedians, with the Strip as
his home base.

Murphy was just one of the dozens Mr. Hold booked, including
breakthrough talents such as Seinfeld and Rock and successful
club comics like Colin Quinn and Judy Gold. While not a comic
himself,

Mr. Hold showed remarkable endurance in a business known for
its grueling hours, manning the stage door at the Strip right
until the end of his life, despite his weakened condition.

Mr. Hold's survivors include his wife, Vanessa Hollingshead;
his brother, Peter G. Hold, of Sedona, Ariz.; and his sister,
Phyllis H. Leggett.

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Smokie Darling (Annie) - 08 Dec 2004 22:42 GMT

firecheif:

My mother had Scleroderma, it eventually took her in 1997. She had the
"hard" skin, and the joints in all her fingers had fused, toes too
(rheumy said she couldn't flex her fingers, to prevent it, because the
skin would have burst). She suffered from the disease taking over all
of her major organs (heart, lungs, kindeys, liver) and preventing them
working correctly, not enough to kill her outright, but make her
suffer. She had always wanted to be an organ donor, but after that
disease, the only things that were usable were her corneas.

I take some comfort in knowing that somewhere, my mother's eyes may
still see me.

Smokie Darling (Annie)

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Rebecca Ford - 08 Dec 2004 23:08 GMT

My grandmother died of it, as well, at 62. It shut down most of her internal
organs. Scary to think of all the related diseases that kurk in our family
trees.

Signature

Rebecca Ford

> firecheif:
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Smokie Darling (Annie)

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Nann Bell - 09 Dec 2004 15:09 GMT

Back in the 90s the wife of one of the assistant football coaches at UF was
diagnosed with scleroderma. All the coaches wives banded together and began
fund-raising efforts for scleroderma, did all they could to ease the stress
on the family and did a lot of community education, especially articles in
the paper. As tends to happen with college coaches, most have moved on to
other jobs. They all stay in touch though and continue the fundraising and
education efforts where they live now. Unfortunately, she died from
complications of the disease a few months ago.

Ah! found the column from the Gainesville Sun sports page that was written
as her tribute. It's touching, I'm pasting it in below my sig if anyone
wants to read it.

Signature

Nann
remove the Gator cheer to email me
Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare

She helped many learn about disease
Jun 22, 2004

They didn't know what scleroderma was back then. It was work just to spell it
correctly. But it became a part of the lives of a group of women, the wives
of the Florida football coaches, because it was such a big part of Dianne
Broadway's life.

Today, they wish they had never heard of scleroderma.

On Sunday morning, the day Dianne was supposed to go home from the Chapel
Hill hospital because there was nothing else that could be done, she didn't
make it. She passed away at 8:15 in the morning, her fragile body withered
and exhausted.

Dianne Broadway hadn't lived in Gainesville for three years. Her husband Rod
left the Florida staff for North Carolina after the 2000 season and is now
the head coach at North Carolina Central. But she became a part of this
community's awareness of a rare and deadly disease.

Scleroderma is a rare connective tissue disorder characterized by abnormal
thickening of the skin, and in its most serious form can affect the internal
organs. It affects an estimated 40,000 to 165,000 people in the United
States.
I learned a lot about this disease seven years ago when Jerri Spurrier called
looking to get the word out. We met for breakfast, myself and all of the
wives of the Gator coaches who knew so much about scleroderma. In the middle
sat Dianne, her hands tightened into a claw-like state and her skin
discolored, talking about the disease and cracking jokes.

They did so much to help her and to help the cause including a fashion show
and a golf tournament to raise money to send to those who were trying to find
a cure.

They called it ³We Can ... For Dianne!² and it was their passion. In a lot of
ways, Dianne Broadway kept them together, the wives who had been part of the
national championship but have since gone their separate ways as their
husbands' careers changed.

That's why Sunday was such a sad day in a lot of places.
She had taken a turn for the worse a week ago. Rod called some of the women
who had been such a big part of her support group.
³We knew it was pretty bad,² said Regina Stephens, whose husband Jimmy Ray
coached with Broadway at UF. Stephens is now the offensive line coach at
Tennessee.

Along with Sandra Dixon, whose husband Dwayne is still an assistant at
Florida, they headed north to spend three days with Dianne. Even though she
was in the intensive care unit, they received permission to spend extra time
in the room.

³She kept her personality and fight right until the end,² Regina Stephens
said. ³Here she was in critical condition and she had us rolling telling
stories. She was special.²

Scleroderma was supposed to already have taken Dianne Broadway years ago, but
she was still fighting until she could fight no more.
Her heart and arteries had hardened to the point where it couldn't pump blood
without medication. Her kidneys had shut down resulting in dialysis. Her
lungs were damaged so badly she could hardly breathe.

At the end, she weighed only 75 pounds, a shell of the strong and vibrant
woman who first came to Gainesville to live in 1995 when her husband was
hired away from Duke to be part of some of the most glorious years in Florida
football history.

It has been a difficult time for the Broadway family. Even though both Rod
and the couple's son Kenneth, a football player at North Carolina Central,
became experts on the disease, things got a little worse every day. Kenneth,
now 18, struggled mightily as an adolescent to understand what was happening
to his mom, why her body was changing and why she couldn't be like the other
moms.

That struggle didn't get any easier Sunday morning. But maybe for Dianne, it
did. The battle is over, but she fought the good fight. Until she couldn't
fight anymore.

A funeral service will be held Thursday at the Triangle Church in Chapel
Hill. Everyone there will know more about scleroderma than they wish they
did.
What professional golfer Tom Watson said about ALS the day it claimed the
life of nhis caddie, Bruce Edwards, is applicable here as well.
Damn the disease.

You can reach sports columnist Pat Dooley by e-mail at dooleyp@gvillesun.com
or by calling 374-5053.

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