Take Me Home From The Oscars
Arthritis, Television, Fashion and Me
by Christine Schwab
I'm not a daytime tv watcher, so I don't know Christine Schwab's work on shows like "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee", "The Today Show", and "Oprah" and "Entertainment Tonite" years ago. She is a fashion expert and provided people with makeovers.
Christine was married to Shelly Schwab, then President of television distribution at Universal Studios. Her own career and his put her at the center of Hollywood glitz and glamour. She loved it!
But as she was enjoying the life she had always hoped for, she was struck with crippling rheumatoid arthritis. I didn't realize what I was getting into when I started this book, but I found it very revealing about a hideous disease that estimated 1.5 million adults suffered from in 2007. The pain she describes is agonizing to hear about, and I was incredulous at how she tried to continue her hectic schedule. She was terrified that people in the industry would find out, and she was sure that if that happened it would be the end of her fashion career. The image of beauty and rheumatoid arthritis don't go together in Hollywood.
Mixed into the recounting of her seven year struggle with this disease, is her dealing with the difficult childhood she had, "boarded out" by her mother and abandoned by her father.
Christine Schwab is a very strong woman emotionally and physically. Finally she participated in a health study, which finally led to relief through a new drug that put her RA in remission. Now she is a public crusader for helping people with RA, and for finding a cure.
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