If you search celebs with copd you get a list of American stars who were mostly famous many years ago. Plus poor Amy winehouse. That's about it. I did see Liz dawn from coronation street on a YouTube video saying she had it , but come on! There must be loads of pop stars etc who could push awareness and possibly help get this disease funded and researched better instead of it being so low down on the list because it's thought of as an old people's disease which it most certainly isn't. My guess is Mr Clarkson has Copd after his heavy long term smoking and recent pneumonia. It's almost as if celebrities are treating it as a dirty secret that needs to be kept hidden from the public. There must be something these types of people can do to raise the overall publicity, on the funding especially. Come on celebs wave the flag.
Copd celebrities. Are they doing enou... - Lung Conditions C...
Copd celebrities. Are they doing enough.
It's the same with bronchiectasis. I have spoken withseveral 'celebrities' who had it and there is a strange reluctance to help raise the profile. They flood to support cf , which is basically the same condition in the lungs as non cf bronch, because they have a massive movement behind them which means more publicity for the celebrity of their 'do gooding'. Ask them to do the same for non cf and they slitheraway.Sorry to sound cynical but 66 years on this roundabout have taught me to be.
I agree Gaza and littlepom, celebrities should step up to the plate and make their voices heard. We won’t hold our breath though eh! Xxxx 😘
Well I am on the fence with this one. One the one hand I agree that celebrities could and should do more. On the other hand they shouldn't be under this obligation to state their illness if they don't want to. Everyone is entitled to a private life whether they are famous or not.
Don't forget too that if they are at the early stages of a disease, making it public would affect their chances of employment. That's why we tend to only hear about them when they are retired or can't work anymore. x
You are right hypercat54, but! If it was a kiddie problem it would be top of the list!
Plus, as I have said before, the popular ones are cancer & heart disease, even though copd is the 3rd biggest killer in the western world, it is seen as a old person or smokers disease, but, I keep getting censored. It is so non politically incorrect.
Not all announced they had it. I always thought Anne Kirkbride of coronation street had it, but not her cause of death. Also I thought George Harrison did and it developed into lung cancer. There will be loads of celebs that just don't want to go public, when you think all the bands in the 60s and 70s, and all the dances and pubs, comedians attended, inadequately ventilated venues full of people smoking, it doesn't bare thinking about.
The 3rd biggest killer and everyone's keeping shtum. It's crazy.
It is not a popular disease! Here in new Zealand, prostate cancer was NEVER spoken about (& yet, more men die from it, than women do of breast cancer) governments all rely on men's " staunchness " to be tough & ride it out! Hence why medical staff like to excuse nothing being done about men's health as " more men die with it, than because of it!" So, we men don't do ourselves any favours.
Copd is the same, it is bloody,dirty, stinky smokers, that get it, powers that be, don't care! No research money is invested in it.....or not enough anyway
Copd! Is just like mental health, YOU CAN'T SEE IT, so, look the other way, when health budgets are done!
I have puzzled over that many times when, having mentioned COPD, people have not heard of it, especially with it having such high morbidity as you say.
I used to work with people with substance and alcohol misuse problems and the amount of people who are killed by alcohol was easier to suppress (Government collects lots of tax from alcohol) because the actual cause of death would be something e.g. liver or kidney failure, than the amount of people killed directly by drug overdose. Which brought its own stigma and reduced empathy for the afflicted.
And the looks you get when you say you have copd they practically run a mile. People need to understand it's not contagious they just need to understand more about the disease/illness instead of watching us struggling to breathe when we are out. We are still normal people who occasionally need help and for the medical profession to find some kind of cure.
Unfortunately there is a lot of stigma with COPD and people tend to keep quiet about it. There must be so many celebrities over the age of 60 with it!
Is there nothing as a collective we can do to push awareness. After all it may go towards making our own lives better in the future. I remember when AIDS was in the headlines all the time. there were no end of concerts and charities etc until now as far as I know it's not the death sentence it once was. It's all about funding and to get that funding it has to be in people's minds. It has to be In the headlines and it needs to be understood by everyone in the street not just those who have a connection with it. I know there is copd awareness day in October/November time. I think as a minimum we all need to be brave enough to share on our social media pages. I will be.
I used to be in show business a few years ago was invited to a Celebrity party, which I wasn't feeling to good, but I was a little out of breath, someone ask if I was ok ,i said I have COPD she asked me what was that ,I said it's lung disease, with that she asked if it's catching I said No ,later I saw her quietly speaking to other people and staring, I was alone, with that I said sorry guys have to go having to do some television work next week.
I felt like someone who was a leper. 😥
Fantastic post Gazza01. I couldn't agree more...more light needs to be shed on COPD so the general populous has a better understanding.
I agree with a lot of what folks have said in the messages above. (I have brittle and allergic asthma, mild bronchiectasis and emphysema.) In my experience, COPD is a 'dirty' word and if you have COPD then it's all your fault because you smoked! So further from the truth. I know quite a few people with COPD who have never smoked! Some years ago, when I was yet again in hospital with a COPD exacerbation, a chap came to my bedside who was doing extensive research into people's knowledge/opinion about COPD. When I asked why more research wasn't being done into COPD he simply said it was due to ignorance in that general opinion was that you got COPD from smoking and therefore people weren't prepared to donate funds - unlike cancer, for example. The irony is that medically speaking COPD is an umbrella for all lung diseases such as bronchiectasis, bronchitis, asthma and some other illnesses that have nothing whatsoever to do with smoking. I think it will take a long time to educate the public because of the stigma. xx
They will soon
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