1960

Class members have produced over the years many outstanding books and now has arrived one of the greatest and most poignant, Saving Milly: Love, Politics andParkinson's Disease, by Mort Kondracke. Many of you are aware that Mort s wife, Milly, has, for the past 13 years, been fighting Parkinsons and that it has changed both their lives in so many ways. Since Saving Milly was released earlier this year, she has had to go on a feeding tube, an eventuality the couple has long dreaded. "She is now just fading away by centimeters," Mort told me just before this Class Notes column was written. "There's less Milly there, everyday."

But nothing can diminish the couples extraordinary 35-year romance. Mort, who had wanted to marry an heiress, acknowledges at first feeling that Milly was unsuitable. She was the half-Jewish, half-Mexican daughter of two Communists, out of the Chicago slums. It will not be surprising to a class whose members have gone off in so many directions that the marriage turned out to be a fabulous success.

But 20 years after they married, Milly was diagnosed with Parkinsons, and all too soon it became apparent that hers was "Parkinsonsplus," a particularly grim variation. Mort's passionately honest account of his life with Milly, and the struggle the two have waged against her affliction, tells also how he gradually became, besides a journalist, a forceful advocate, along with Milly, for greater spending on Parkinsons research.

Many of us know our intrepid classmate quite well. We will not be surprised that he personally accosted two presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, to plead for their support for a doubling of the National Institutes of Health budget, a goal still not attained. This is a good political book. It is also a compelling account of dealing with the medical system.

The Kondrackes have certainly encountered skillful and inspired medical practitioners in the battle, but they also have had many discouraging experiences.There have been multiple false leads in this battle, surgeries that promised much but delivered little, medicines that didn't do the job, diagnoses that were wrong. Fortunately, however, they seem to have had little problem with their insurance companies.

Overall, this story is surprisingly upbeat at many points. The Kondrackes have wonderful friends. They have made many new alliances and done great things in their campaign for research funding. And combating the disease itself has been, sometimes at least, uplifting.

Mort writes eloquently of reorienting his own life to be an ever-more-loving husband. Milly has usually been indomitable.

Parkinsons may be conquered in a limited amount of time. To help in this crusade, contributions may be made to the Parkinsons Action Network, 300 North Lee St., Alexandria, VA, 22314, or to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, 381 Park Ave. South, New York, NY 10016. The Kondrackes have worked with both.

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