Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dealer who wrote (40889)	9/2/2001 6:06:21 PM
From: Jill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Thanx dealie...actually I've learned to live w/ it or around it or under it or something like that--it's tough--but one finds courage one didn't know one had. Here's a nice story of such courage: Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday, September 2, 2001 Walking to help conquer debilitating arthritis He still has a bodybuilder's physique - broad shoulders, bulging biceps, powerful forearms, a trim waist. There are no real obvious signs of the damage that Lyme disease has done to his body. But it has done damage. It could eventually kill him, he says matter-of-factly. J'Tone DaCosta, 69, of Vineland, wants to alert others - particularly children - to the ordeal that is Lyme arthritis. That's why he plans to walk in the Joints in Motion marathon Oct. 29 in Dublin, Ireland. DaCosta will join about 3,200 others from the United States - about 35 from New Jersey - who plan to run or walk in the marathon to raise money for arthritis research. There is a second arthritis-benefit marathon scheduled for Dec. 9 in Honolulu. Why Dublin and Honolulu? Well, because they are nice places to visit. But what is more important, marathons there allow walkers. Though many of the participants are perfectly healthy, there are others with arthritis-related or other physical problems that prevent them from running. The marathons are big money-raisers. Last year the New Jersey Arthritis Foundation alone realized $300,000 from the Dublin event. Each Dublin participant for the foundation must come up with $4,000 from sponsors. About a third of that goes for trip expenses for the six-day and five-night trip. The remainder goes to the foundation. Participants from the American Arthritis Foundation make up almost half of the 8,000 or so runners and walkers expected in the Dublin race. Approximately 28 percent of New Jersey adults have some form of arthritis and almost half of those diagnosed with arthritis don't know what type they have, according to the state Department of Health and Senior and Services. Arthritis affects 43 million Americans of all ages, or nearly 15 percent of the population. The number is expected to increase to 60 million by 2020. As athletic as he is - he once was a weightlifter and bodybuilder - DaCosta wouldn't attempt to run the 26-plus miles. Just to get through them by walking - with this ailment - would be a remarkable achievement. He is taking a 20-week program to prepare him for the walk, under the guidance of Tracy Fuoco, 26, a gym general manager in Delran. She has been training arthritis marathoners for years. Last year, Fuoco trained a man who managed the 26 miles on crutches. It took him 15 hours to cover the route. DaCosta can do a 17-minute mile now, Fuoco said, and he hopes to do better by October. "He has a lot of drive in him," she said. There is also the possibility that he won't be able to participate at all - if his Lyme-arthritis problems kick up just before the starting gun. DaCosta looks at himself as involved in sort of a Rocky-like drama - as in the leading character in the Sylvester Stallone films. Can he rise up off the mat and clobber that monster called Lyme disease? Tune in on Oct. 29 and see. There is a connection between the real and the Rocky reel. DaCosta is a former movie actor and stuntman who had small parts in the films Rocky II and Rocky III. Now the father of 14 from two marriages works as a screenwriter. He may write his best real-life drama in Dublin. To compete, he will have to walk through the pain that often takes over in his back, spine, knees and ankles. Some days he says it's more than he can bear. Many people don't relate Lyme disease with arthritis - but it affects areas in and around the joints just as do rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and up to 130 other related arthritic diseases. Lyme disease is brought on by the bite of an infected tick. Treatment is most successful in the early stages. Untreated, it can cause serious nerve or heart problems and turn into chronic arthritis. That is where DaCosta is. About a dozen years ago, he suffered from Bell's palsy, a sudden paralysis of the facial muscles. About the same time, he must have been bitten by a disease-bearing tick. DaCosta believes it happened on a camping trip to Canada. Though it could have occurred, for that matter, somewhere on the 17 acres he lives on in Vineland. The Bell's ailment delayed discovery of the Lyme disease. By the time doctors found the disease, it was incurable. It went into his back and spine. He suffered blinding headaches. DaCosta knew about pain, even before his ailments. As a movie stuntman he made his living in the 1960s by getting intentionally thrown off galloping horses or speeding trucks. The South Philadelphia native picked up a few broken bones along the way. Later he was employed in less dangerous work - in movie parts and with local theater companies in such productions as The Sound of Music, The Man of La Mancha and The Phantom of the Opera. He is now content to restrict his theater work to writing. All will be put aside until the Dublin run. In the best Rocky tradition, he expects to be there. DaCosta said: "My father used to say, 'One thing I can't stand is a quitter.' I agree with that." He's not a quitter. If he can make it, he will be there.