Humor Helps Her Get Past the Pain

You may recognize Karen Duffy’s face, if not her name. The Revlon spokesmodel, actress and acknowledged good-time girl led a charmed life, even accompanying her dream date George Clooney to the 1995 Emmy Awards.

But that life changed abruptly. A day after the Emmys, she found herself in a New York hospital, with a sudden headache so debilitating she was barely able to function. Finding the source of the pain took months.

Doctors finally diagnosed sarcoidosis of the central nervous system. Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease with no known cause or cure. The symptoms of sarcoidosis clear up in most cases, but vary according to which organs are affected. The prognosis is worst when it spreads beyond the chest. When it seriously damages the heart or brain, it can be fatal. Duffy’s form is especially rare and painful.

The book describes Duffy’s battle back from partial paralysis and her public struggle with the disease that has produced lesions on her spine, lungs and intestines. Her irreverent humor, from which the book takes its title, has helped her survive.

Although the celebrity life may not hold everyone’s attention, you’ve got to admit that Duffy was more than lucky to have had Miramax Films’ Harvey Weinstein on hand. He got her to the doctor who saved her life.

She’s had other help as well. While she was undergoing chemotherapy to keep sarcoid lesions in check, the woman with the string of high-profile dates fell for a regular guy so full of compassion that he gave her a dog bed to help her through those long nights on the tiled bathroom floor.

This isn’t the most literary disease memoir around, but you can’t help but admire Duffy’s spunk. She continues to model and work as a correspondent on Michael Moore’s “The Awful Truth,” on cable’s TV’s Bravo channel while undergoing chemotherapy and downing morphine to get through the day.

Duffy also offers some common-sense health advice to readers. She advises getting second opinions, dumping a doctor who doesn’t treat you properly, and always trying to find a reason to keep going. Duffy is now making the talk-show circuit promoting her book, the proceeds of which will support sarcoidosis research.

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THE JOSEPH H. PILATES METHOD AT HOME: A Balance, Shape, Strength & Fitness Program

By Eleanor McKenzie

Ulysses Press

$16.95, 128 pages

While in an internment camp during World War I, the German-born Joseph H. Pilates developed a method of gently conditioning the body that became an exercise mainstay in the dance world. It was practiced by such stars as George Balanchine and Martha Graham, and later was adopted by actors and athletes. Only in recent years has it caught on widely among those seeking good posture, a long, strong lean body, joint flexibility and better balance. It also has become a physical rehabilitation technique.

The Pilates method can be practiced two ways: in a studio using a system of sliding platforms, springs and equipment that provides resistance to the limbs while working the core muscles of the abdomen and trunk, or on a floor mat, relying more heavily on the body’s own resistance, along with light weights.

In this book, Eleanor McKenzie provides the history and philosophy behind Pilates exercises, which aim to retrain the body’s musculature to move in a more natural, and better-supported, way.

Although McKenzie made the historical mistake of saying that Pilates, who moved to the United States in the 1920s, was interned as a prisoner during World War II (it was World War I), she does better in providing clear, step-by-step instructions on how to perform the most essential core stabilization, leg, arm and stretching moves at home.

The easy-to-follow text and photographs explain the goal of each exercise, and describe proper positioning and breathing. Although advanced Pilates can be an expensive proposition, this book can help the novice learn the basics, and then decide if he or she is ready to commit the time and money to finding a good personal instructor or group class.