CFS & Seabiscuit Author (sonian Mag/Dec. 2002)

[Guest guest]

sonian Magazine Dec. 2002 - " Betting on Seabiscuit "

Hillenbrand beat the odds to write the hit horse-racing saga

while fighting chronic fatigue syndrome, a mysterious disorder

starting to reveal its secrets Hillenbrand's book has been a

No. 1 best-seller, and what makes her achievement all the more

remarkable is that she suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome, a

disorder that afflicts some 800,000 Americans and is marked by

physical and mental exhaustion, recurring aches and fleeting fevers.

While she toiled on Seabiscuit, Hillenbrand often kept a box of

breakfast cereal close at hand so she wouldn't have to waste precious

energy walking to the kitchen. Sometimes she wrote (in longhand) with

her eyes closed to stop the vertigo.

Her book, a chronicle of the racetrack world of 1930s America, is

such a hit that Hillenbrand has become a leading spokesperson for

victims of chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS. " As I lay in bed over

the years, I wished that somebody prominent would go out and make an

articulate case for CFS patients, " she says. " So when Seabiscuit's

success gave me the opportunity to take on that role, I thought, OK,

that's what I'm going to try to do. "

Hillenbrand's service coincides with welcome developments in the

field, including new thinking about the syndrome's causes as well as

new treatments. Though a cure does not exist, researchers have

recently amassed evidence that counseling and graded exercise therapy

can often help patients. Perhaps most impressive, medical researchers

at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are

working on the first test for screening and possibly diagnosing the

syndrome. Says Dr. Reeves, who directs chronic fatigue

syndrome research at the CDC: " The field is progressing quite

rapidly. "

*Posted by CF Alliance Moderators