GOOD, BAD ‘DAYS’

Suzanne Rogers, a “Days of Our Lives” regular for most of the last 13 years, has been living her own soap opera the past two. She’s been suffering with myasthenia gravis, a life-threatening neuromuscular disease that destroys the body’s muscles. And the ailment has recently been written into the storyline of her character, housewife/hospital volunteer Maggie Horton.

“Producer Shelley Curtis approached me to see if I could go through with the storyline,” Rogers told us. “I agreed only if it were handled in a positive manner and if it could help other people.”

Rogers’ doctor, Dr. John Kessey, and the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation were consulted originally for research. Now Rogers approves all scripts. “There was a time when I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t eat and I couldn’t swallow,” she said. “I went down from 120 to 92 pounds in six days. I thought I was going to die.” It involved three hospital stays and an operation to remove her thymus gland.

“The disease affects people differently. Some are affected in the limbs. I was affected in the throat and face. My face blew up so much I looked like a bowling ball. And I’m a singer. So it was very frustrating for me. I still don’t have my entire voice back.”

Although she tires easily, she manages to walk three miles and do 60 sit-ups a day. “I have my good days and I have my bad,” she said.