Woody Guthrie died from this terrible disease. It is a genetic defect that creates a toxin that destroys brain tissue. It has been incurable. It is a horrendous disease that sets in during middle age to slowly deteriorate the brain causing loss of coordination, speech and mental function.
Woody’s deterioration started in the early 1950s, led to his hospitalisation in 1956 and culminated in his death in 1967.
Woody was a man mountain – a spark of life, a unique social commentator, a person of the people, a champion of the underdog, the poor, the blacks and Latinos, the vagrants and itinerant musicians. He put his body where his mouth was and spent his life doing his utmost to make the world a better place. Where-ever there was injustice there was Woody.
Now they have a cure for the disease. By injecting a chemical into the spinal cord they can reduce the levels of the toxin that causes the deterioration.
Just think if they had only developed this drug in the 50s we might have had a decade or two of Woody’s wonderful songwriting, novel writing and insights. He would have had so much to comment on in this age of Trump, Brexit and the rise of fascism.
It is a dreadful death, and there are those that still suffer.
Hopefully not for too much longer! Hope is in sight!
I’m with Linda on this – you have every right to feel angry, aggrieved, taken for a ride. At least he has fessed up. Hopefully things will start improving from here on in xxx
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Oooops – I was responding to Calen’s post and a comment made by Linda. I have no idea how it ended up on your site! So sorry 🙁
That’s OK Raili. I thought something like that had occurred. I was a tad bemused.