Playwright Dedicates Sept. 17-18 Production to Memory of Virgilee Waddell

In a gesture of poignancy and hope, playwright Nancy J. Jones (above, right) is dedicating the September 17-18 performances of her play, Above the 37th Parallel, to the memory of Virgilee Waddell, the inspiration behind the Waddell Center for Multiple Sclerosis. Proceeds from the two performances, which will be held at the Kresge Theater on the UC College of Medicine campus, will benefit research at the Waddell Center, a component of the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute. The performances are open to the public.

The one-woman play, starring Cincinnati actress Sherman Fracher (above, center) and directed by her husband, actor-director Drew Fracher (above, left), tells Ms. Jones’s story of “life, love and living with multiple sclerosis” for 20 years. Ms. Jones, a former English teacher who worked as a marketing and communications manager in the Cincinnati area, describes the play as “educational, entertaining, fun and hopeful.”

Multiple sclerosis itself is really none of those things, of course. It is chronic neurological disease that affects the central nervous system (which comprises the brain and spinal cord) and produces an expansive range of symptoms, which can include loss of balance, numbness or abnormal sensations in any area, walking difficulties, weakness in one or more arms or legs, bowel and bladder problems, eye discomfort, vision loss (usually in one eye at a time) and facial pain.

Although MS currently has no cure, several therapies can slow the progression of the disease. The Waddell Center, directed by Maria Melanson, MD, is committed to providing access to carefully selected clinical trials that focus on novel, experimental therapies that have the potential to help patients who are inadequately treated by current FDA-approved medications. Six clinical trials are currently underway.

An autoimmune disease, MS is characterized by the body’s unhappy decision to declare war on itself. For complex reasons not fully understood, antibodies that are normally benign attack the covering of the myelin sheath, a fatty insulation that covers the transmission components (axons) of neurons, which send electrical impulses from the brain to the spinal cord. When these axons can no longer send their messages rapid-fire, symptoms of MS emerge. (Other autoimmune diseases include type 1 diabetes, in which antibodies attack the pancreas, and rheumatoid arthritis, in which antibodies attack the joints.)
 
Auto-immune diseases, thought to be triggered by an intermingling of genetics and infectious agents, such as viruses, trend toward cold-weather climes, and the title of Ms. Jones’s play comes from the geographical signature of MS. The “MS belt,” she notes, extends from Newport News, Virginia, to Santa Cruz, California. People living north of the 37th parallel (including those in Europe and Canada), where viral infections are common, develop MS more frequently than people living in areas close to the equator (like Africa, Asia, and South America), where viral infections are less frequent. The trend holds true south of the equator as well, with a higher incidence of MS in Australia and New Zealand. The most important determinant of MS susceptibility, it turns out, is the geographical location of one’s first 15 years of life.

The MS belt runs through the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky area, where more than 6,000 people have the disease. And on the street in Milford, Ohio, where Ms. Jones grew up, six people were diagnosed with MS. As a result, Ms. Jones was familiar with MS at the time of her own diagnosis at age 34. She had served as a volunteer for the National MS Society, and her best friend’s mother died of complications of MS. After going blind in her left eye, Ms. Jones was answering her doctor’s questions when she sensed where his train of thought was heading. “You think I have MS, don’t you?” she said.

Above the 37th Parallel has been performed twice before for the benefit of the Waddell Center, at the Aronoff Center in 2008 and the Carnegie Center in 2009. The Waddell Center was founded in 2002 through a generous $5 million gift from Oliver Waddell, whose wife, Virgilee, was diagnosed with MS in 1981.

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Above the 37th Parallel, by Nancy J. Jones
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011
Where: Kresge Auditorium, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 231 Albert Sabin Way, Cincinnati, OH 45267
How much: Tickets are $30. Call (513) 558-6903 for tickets or register online »
Accessible seating: Yes; valet parking is available.
Sponsorships & donations: Call Gina Weitzel at (513) 558-6112