10 Famous People With Myasthenia Gravis (MG)

Famous People With Myasthenia Gravis:

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease that is characterized by rapid fatigue and weakness of any of the muscles under your voluntary control.

It affects 50 to 200 million people worldwide. MG is not directly inherited, nor is it contagious.

The disease usually occurs in individuals over the age of 40, according to the National Institutes of Health. Men are more likely to be diagnosed at age 60 or older, whereas women are more likely to be diagnosed as younger adults.

Symptoms

The symptoms of MG may include:

• weakness in the arms, hands, fingers, legs, and neck;
• impaired speech;
• shortness of breath;
• difficulty in swallowing;
• a change in facial expression;
• unstable gait;
• blurry or double vision;
• eyelid drooping;
• eye muscle weakness.

Note – around 18% of patients with MG experience myasthenic crisis, a condition that is characterized by severe weakness of the respiratory and bulbar muscles.

Causes

MG is caused by a breakdown in the normal communication between nerves and muscles.

There is no known cure, however, with current therapies most cases of MG are not as “grave” as the name implies.

Anticholinesterase drugs, like – pyridostigmine (Mestinon) and neostigmine, can help improve neuromuscular transmission and increase muscle strength.

Here Is A List Of 10 Famous People With Myasthenia Gravis:

#1 Brandon Cox

He is a former American football quarterback who played collegiately for Auburn University.

As of the 2007 Iron Bowl, Cox has 6,748 career passing yards, a 59.12 percent completion percentage, and 42 touchdowns on 31 interceptions for a career NCAA passer rating of 131.58.

Brandon Cox was diagnosed with MG in his 10th-grade year in high school; however, he fought the chronic autoimmune disease and continued to play football.

#2 Laurence Olivier

He was an English actor and director who is known for his numerous Shakespeare roles on screen and stage as well as memorable turns in more modern classics.

Laurence starred alongside Marilyn Monroe in The Prince and the Showgirl.

Olivier also starred in the film versions of Hamlet, Henry V, and Richard III, and played more than 100 roles on stage. 

Laurence Olivier was also diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, and on July 11, 1989, he died in Amhurst, England.

#3 Aristotle Onassis

He was an ethnic Greek-born in Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire in what is now Turkey and became a billionaire shipping tycoon.

His first wife was the daughter of shipping magnate Stavros G. Livanos – Athina Livanos.

Onassis owned islands, like – Sparta and Scorpios, and had accounts in more than 200 banks across the world.

Several months before John F. Kennedy was assassinated, he befriended Jackie Kennedy, America’s queen.

Onassis worked for a telephone company after serving for Greece in World War I.

He died at age 69 on 15 March 1975 at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine, of respiratory failure, a complication of the MG from which he had been suffering during the last years of his life.

#4 Suzanne Rogers

She is an American actress with film and television credits who is best known for her role as Maggie Horton in Days of Our Lives.

Suzzane married Sam Groom in 1980, however, they divorced in 1982.

Rogers was also a dancer at the NYC Radio City Music Hall.

Suzzane was diagnosed with MG, but presently, she is in remission and lives a prosperous and healthy life.

#5 Roger Smith

He was an American film and television actor, screenwriter, and producer.

Roger was also a talented singer as well as a guitarist and a standout college football player.

Roger Smith starred in the television detective series 77 Sunset Strip and in the comedy series Mister Roberts.

Plus he is also known for his marriage to actress Ann Margret.

He was married to Victoria Shaw.

He had fought myasthenia gravis for many years. In addition, he left 77 Sunset Strip in 1963 after doctors discovered a blood clot in his brain.

#6 Vijay Tendulkar

He was a leading Indian movie, playwright, television writer, political journalist, literary essayist, and social commentator, primarily in Marathi.

Vijay Tendulkar is also the subject of a short film, Ankahin (“The Untold”), and the documentary Tendulkar and Violence: Today and Yesterday, both released in 2007.

He was suffering from MG and died at 80 years old.

#7 Stephen Garrett

He is a British television and film producer who is best known for executive producing the BBC spy drama Spooks and founding the Kudos production company.

Stephen Garrett is also known for writing and producing The Night Manager (2016), Eastern Promises (2007), and Salmon Fishing in Yemen (2011).

On Feb. 25, 2008, he checked into Baptist Hospital East and was diagnosed with MG after several tests.

#8 Christopher Robin Milne

He was the son of author A. A. Milne. As a child, Christopher was the basis of the character Christopher Robin in his father’s Winnie-the-Pooh stories and in 2 books of poems.

Robin Milne had one child, a daughter named Clare, who had cerebral palsy.

She died in 2012 at the age of 56 from natural causes due to a heart abnormality.

Christopher Robin Milne lived for some years with MG and died in his sleep on April 20, 1996, in Totnes, Devon, at the age of 75.

#9 Amitabh Bachchan

He is an Indian film producer, television host, actor, and former politician.

Amitabh first gained popularity in the early 1970s for films like Zanjeer, Deewaar, and Sholay.

His performances in films such as Silsila, Shaarabi, Jaadugar Laawaris, Coolie, and Naseeb landed him multiple Fanfare Awards and continued to enamor fans of the tall and handsome action hero.

Bachchan has won six International Indian Film Academy Awards and fifteen Filmfare Awards.

Amitabh Bachchan was diagnosed with MG and was unable to perform even the simplest of tasks, such as – lifting his arms or brushing his teeth or walking a few steps.

#10 Augustus Pablo

He was a Jamaican roots reggae, keyboardist, and melodica player active from the 1970s onwards. Augustus Pablo also helped invent “dub” music, a genre of music that grew out of Reggae music in the 1960s.

On May 18, 1999, he died as a result of a collapsed lung. Augustus Pablo had been suffering for some time from MG.

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References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28654435
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4856525/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18974563