Thursday, June 30, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Grammy winner Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott has Graves Disease
"You live with it for the rest of your life," Elliott, 39, said.
Diagnosed in 2008, Elliott said she experienced many of the disease's symptoms, such as dizziness, mood swings, a rapid heart beat and hair loss.
She has spent much of the past three years getting treatment for her condition. She has since dropped 30 pounds through exercise and seems ready to put the focus back on her music.
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About 10 million people in the United States are living with the condition, according to the National Graves' Disease Foundation. Graves' disease causes the thyroid gland to become overactive, producing an excess of thyroid hormones. Thyroid hormones help regulate mood, weight and overall energy levels.
Symptoms of Graves' disease include muscle weakness, bulging eyeballs, fatigue, tremor and difficulty sleeping.
The most common treatments are medications that control the thyroid gland, radiation and surgery to remove the gland.
The condition responds well to treatment, but most patients must take thyroid medications for life to regulate hormone levels.
Elliott took to her Twitter page to thank her fans for their good wishes.
"I'm doing great," she said, adding that she's glad she can motivate others.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Reclusive copper heiress leaves $38 million to nurse
A reclusive copper heiress who spent the past decades living in New York City hospitals has left most of her $400 million fortune to charity--and a nurse who was randomly assigned to care for her 20 years ago.The New York Post reports that Huguette Clark did not leave a penny to her family members. The lion's share of her fortune will go to a foundation to promote the arts. She left the biggest chunk of the remaining inheritance--a testament worth about $38 million--to her private nurse, Hadassah Peri. She also left Peri her collection of dolls and dollhouses, which The New York Times says could be worth millions.
Clark, who died last month at 104, divided up the rest of her assets among her accountant, her lawyer, a physician and a goddaughter. Authorities are investigating whether the lawyer, Wallace Bock, and her accountant, Irving Kamsler, inappropriately influenced how Clark handled her money. (According to the Post, Kamsler pleaded guilty in 2008 of attempting to send indecent images to underage girls online.)
For her part, Peri says she will cherish her inheritance in honor of her friendship with Clark--and give a substantial portion of it away, in emulation of Clark's own will. "I saw Madame Clark virtually every day for the 20 years. I was her private duty nurse but also her close friend. I knew her as a kind and generous person, with whom I shared many wonderful moments and whom I loved very much," the nurse said in a statement to the Post.
Clark was the daughter of Montana Sen. William Clark, who was once the second-richest man in the country. According to Clark's will, her nurse spent more time with her than anyone else and became a "friend and loyal companion," The Post reported. Clark had no children, and specified in her will that she had no interest in leaving money to the descendants of her half-siblings or other relatives.
She is also donating a painting in Claude Monet's famous Water Lillies series to the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. It has not been publicly seen since the 1920s.
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