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Debilitating sickness remains a mystery | ajc.com
Lithonia's Candace Anderson will be a year older later this month, a milestone she's celebrating with a party but little hope of getting the birthday gift of her family's dreams: a definitive diagnosis.
The former Mercer University college student illness remains as much a mystery today as it was six years ago when it struck with a vengeance, within a matter of months robbing the then-19-year-old of her sight, sense of touch and ability to move normally. She had inexplicably become deaf at age 17.
Since that time, major publications such as People magazine have told her story and her family has established the Candace Anderson Mystery Illness Foundation and Web site, run by her big sister, Charlie Anderson. The foundation provides college scholarships to students with financial or academic challenges.
"We have a foundation that's going to help us help kids do what Candace loved to do," said Sarah Anderson, her mother who is fighting her own battles with breast cancer and other serious illness. "Candace loved school."
Meanwhile, her daughter's condition remains mostly unchanged, though she regained some motion and sense of touch.
The once-aspiring plastic surgeon continues to spend her days confined to a hospital bed set up in her family's living room, her still-active mind trapped in a body dependent on others for care.
The Andersons staved off pressure to put her in a nursing home by the state, which ultimately agreed to pay for home health aides to help at the family's Lithonia residence 10 hours each day.
Anderson was first thought to have some sort of degenerative, neurological disorder that also has affected her younger sister, Sophia Turner, though not as severely. Two other siblings, so far, have not developed the mysterious illness.
Like her older sister, the 23-year-old Turner is deaf but has a relatively normal life as a military wife. In Germany, where she now lives with her husband and child, Turner has been on the hunt for answers that could help them both, but with no success.
"She's been to doctors, but they were baffled, too," Sarah Anderson said.
Tests have been inconclusive in pinpointing what's wrong. Medical experts have eliminated genetics and a number of other possibilities, according to their mother.
"No one in my family or my husband's family has had anything like this at all," Sarah Anderson said.
Candace Anderson's family works to help her maintain the healthy living she practiced before becoming ill.
They take her on outings and make sure she takes in vitamins and fruit juices and spends seven hours daily sitting up in her wheelchair. She undergoes range-of-motion exercise of her limbs every two hours and stays dolled up with the help of twice-weekly "spa days."
That regiment, Sarah Anderson said, is paying off. Her daughter, she explained, had none of the skin sores or other problems commonly associated with the bedridden. Said her mom: "She's like a healthy person over there, but just can't do anything."
The former Columbia High honor student uses her 130-pound body as much as she is able to communicate her likes and dislikes, sometimes with surprising strength. She isn't too inclined to do much she doesn't want to do and won't cooperate if you try to make her. Lying on her right side facing the window is her newest preference, her mother said.
And sometimes she laughs so hard that everyone else in the room does, too.
Attending Sunday services at Forest Park's Paradise Church of God in Christ remains a big part of her regular routine.
"Two Sundays ago, the preacher was preaching and she started crying," her mom said. "She wasn't unhappy. It was the emotional part that touched her."
Charlie Anderson, a local corporate learning and training consultant, says her sister's battle with this mysterious illness has taken its toll on the close-knit relationship the four Anderson sisters have had. She, in particular, misses talking and sharing secrets with her younger sibling now unable to speak or partake in the life of the Anderson family as she once did.
"It's almost like a puzzle," said Charlie Anderson, 33. "You've got four pieces and one is missing."
PARTY PLANNED
Anderson's family is wrapping up plans for a belated celebration of her 25th birthday at Paradise Church of God in Christ Gymnasium and Cultural Center. The public is invited to share in the merriment, which will include a special musical serenade for the birthday girl. The bash is set for 6 to 10 p.m. Dec. 8 at the church's center at 4295 Hendrix Drive, Forest Park. In lieu of gifts, the family invites guests to make donations to the CAMI Foundation.
"Some of my best friends are people I've met because of her condition," said her mother, who is balancing caring for her daughter with fighting her own battles with breast cancer and other serious illness. "I thought this was the perfect time for people to come wish her well and see how she is doing."
Lithonia's Candace Anderson will be a year older later this month, a milestone she's celebrating with a party but little hope of getting the birthday gift of her family's dreams: a definitive diagnosis.
The former Mercer University college student illness remains as much a mystery today as it was six years ago when it struck with a vengeance, within a matter of months robbing the then-19-year-old of her sight, sense of touch and ability to move normally. She had inexplicably become deaf at age 17.
Since that time, major publications such as People magazine have told her story and her family has established the Candace Anderson Mystery Illness Foundation and Web site, run by her big sister, Charlie Anderson. The foundation provides college scholarships to students with financial or academic challenges.
"We have a foundation that's going to help us help kids do what Candace loved to do," said Sarah Anderson, her mother who is fighting her own battles with breast cancer and other serious illness. "Candace loved school."
Meanwhile, her daughter's condition remains mostly unchanged, though she regained some motion and sense of touch.
The once-aspiring plastic surgeon continues to spend her days confined to a hospital bed set up in her family's living room, her still-active mind trapped in a body dependent on others for care.
The Andersons staved off pressure to put her in a nursing home by the state, which ultimately agreed to pay for home health aides to help at the family's Lithonia residence 10 hours each day.
Anderson was first thought to have some sort of degenerative, neurological disorder that also has affected her younger sister, Sophia Turner, though not as severely. Two other siblings, so far, have not developed the mysterious illness.
Like her older sister, the 23-year-old Turner is deaf but has a relatively normal life as a military wife. In Germany, where she now lives with her husband and child, Turner has been on the hunt for answers that could help them both, but with no success.
"She's been to doctors, but they were baffled, too," Sarah Anderson said.
Tests have been inconclusive in pinpointing what's wrong. Medical experts have eliminated genetics and a number of other possibilities, according to their mother.
"No one in my family or my husband's family has had anything like this at all," Sarah Anderson said.
Candace Anderson's family works to help her maintain the healthy living she practiced before becoming ill.
They take her on outings and make sure she takes in vitamins and fruit juices and spends seven hours daily sitting up in her wheelchair. She undergoes range-of-motion exercise of her limbs every two hours and stays dolled up with the help of twice-weekly "spa days."
That regiment, Sarah Anderson said, is paying off. Her daughter, she explained, had none of the skin sores or other problems commonly associated with the bedridden. Said her mom: "She's like a healthy person over there, but just can't do anything."
The former Columbia High honor student uses her 130-pound body as much as she is able to communicate her likes and dislikes, sometimes with surprising strength. She isn't too inclined to do much she doesn't want to do and won't cooperate if you try to make her. Lying on her right side facing the window is her newest preference, her mother said.
And sometimes she laughs so hard that everyone else in the room does, too.
Attending Sunday services at Forest Park's Paradise Church of God in Christ remains a big part of her regular routine.
"Two Sundays ago, the preacher was preaching and she started crying," her mom said. "She wasn't unhappy. It was the emotional part that touched her."
Charlie Anderson, a local corporate learning and training consultant, says her sister's battle with this mysterious illness has taken its toll on the close-knit relationship the four Anderson sisters have had. She, in particular, misses talking and sharing secrets with her younger sibling now unable to speak or partake in the life of the Anderson family as she once did.
"It's almost like a puzzle," said Charlie Anderson, 33. "You've got four pieces and one is missing."
PARTY PLANNED
Anderson's family is wrapping up plans for a belated celebration of her 25th birthday at Paradise Church of God in Christ Gymnasium and Cultural Center. The public is invited to share in the merriment, which will include a special musical serenade for the birthday girl. The bash is set for 6 to 10 p.m. Dec. 8 at the church's center at 4295 Hendrix Drive, Forest Park. In lieu of gifts, the family invites guests to make donations to the CAMI Foundation.
"Some of my best friends are people I've met because of her condition," said her mother, who is balancing caring for her daughter with fighting her own battles with breast cancer and other serious illness. "I thought this was the perfect time for people to come wish her well and see how she is doing."