Famous People With Myasthenia Gravis. Plus Anecdotes.

 

[I was diagnosed with MG in June.] According to Wikipedia, Aristotle Onassis (billionaire who married Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968) died in 1975 at age 69 of respiratory failure, a complication of the myasthenia gravis from which he had suffered the last years of his life. MG affected his ability to keep his eyelids open. [classic Onassis anecdote] [Rembrandt]

Other famous people with MG include Sir Laurence Olivier (film actor, 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989; Age 82) and Suzanne Rogers (tv actress, b. 9 July 1943; Age 82).

Also, the character of Sleepy (from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs") was reportedly inspired by a friend of Walt Disney who had MG, exhibiting the well-known symptom of drooping eyelids.

The following interchanges are from a book called Disorder in the Court and were actually said in court, word for word, taken down and published by court reporters...
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ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
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ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
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ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.
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ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Getting laid.
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ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
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ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
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ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.
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ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 PM.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.
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ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.