More MS news articles for January 2004

The Filter

Jennifer Huget reviews "Climbing Higher" by Montel Williams

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11579-2004Jan12.html

Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Jennifer Huget
The Washington Post

THE BOOK

Daytime talk-show host Montel Williams is one of a small number of celebrities known to have multiple sclerosis. "Climbing Higher" (New American Library), co-written with Lawrence Grobel, recounts in satisfying detail Montel's long dance with this most unpredictable disease.

THE AUTHOR

Before his TV career, Williams was a Marine, a U.S. Naval Academy grad, a boxer and a cryptologist translating Chinese. All along, he suffered unsettling symptoms and medical episodes some of which seem MS-related while others -- including a bizarre misdiagnosis of breast cancer -- seem just plain weird.

THE GOOD

Without self-pity (well, not much) he describes the pain and uncertainty MS has dealt him and his family. He endorses exercise as a way to manage the disease -- and also makes a passionate case for medicinal use of marijuana. He offers a mix of contempt and respect for the medical community while pressing for more research.

THE BAD

Get this man an editor! The book bears the telltale marks of the Dictaphone: there's lots of rambling and repetition. There's also a bit more detail about his sex life than is really necessary . . . but for folks with MS, that can be a big part of the story.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Anybody talking so frankly about MS is doing a service by shedding light on a mysterious and scary disease. While Williams is not cuddly enough (think Michael J. Fox and Parkinson's disease) to serve as the standard bearer for MS, the hour or so it takes to read this quickie is well spent.