Since the death of comedic actor Bernie Mac on August 9, a lot of people wonder what the mysterious disease was that he had. Entertainment Tonight showed archival footage of him on the set of one of his movies, wheeling an oxygen tank. Of course, for effect, they played this dramatic music as they talked about it. Unlike a lot of people, however, it was not the first time I’d ever heard of sarcoidosis. I’ve known about the ailment for more than 20 years, when I was nine years old and a doctor diagnosed me with it. Maybe the death of Bernie Mac will open people’s eyes to this ailment, but I don’t want anyone to suddenly feel sorry for me because I have it.
I think that people get so caught up in a disease that they categorize everyone who has it a certain way. I want people to know that the seemingly healthy person sitting next to you could be suffering with sarcoidosis. That is why I felt the need to write this article. When I was first diagnosed as a child, my parents and I were scared. My inflammation, however, didn’t manifest itself in my lungs, at first. I had inflammation in my lymph nodes. I was also losing weight for no reason. I was almost a year before they finally figured out what was wrong with me. Despite all of the poking and prodding, I have managed to live a normal life, with no medication whatsoever.
Someone wrote that aggressive treatment is necessary to treat this disorder. That is not true in every situation. Maybe the doctors were more willing to try other methods to treat me because I was so young. Who knows? There are cases of people who actually improve as they get older. Whatever the reason, they chose not to put me on steroid medications which damage the body’s organs. They basically told me to modify my life, and as much as humanly possible, stay away from things that would aggravate it.
Because I had to take care of my lungs and other organs, I stayed away from any kind of tobacco smoke as much as possible. I don’t know if it was a contributing factor in his case, but there were times when Bernie Mac could be seen smoking a cigar. The night before he died, I happened to be watching a rerun of his sitcom in which he was doing this. My doctors told me that smoking of any kind could worsen the condition; therefore, I did everything in my powers to protect my fragile lungs.
Like almost any health condition, diet and exercise is also important for a person with sarcoidosis. I find that when I exercise more, my lungs work better. When I fall off the wagon, however, my lung capacity takes a dramatic downturn. I remember a time when I wasn’t exercising and I had to take a pulmonary function test. The test revealed that my lung capacity decreased to the point that the technician was concerned. However, I took the test a year or so later, and my lungs had improved.
I’ve managed to do a lot of things that people with my condition are not supposed to be able to do, like play a musical instrument that requires the use of the lungs. When I was trying to prove something because of my condition, I exercised more than two hours on some days. I got married and gave birth to a child, suffering no complications from sarcoidosis during the entire pregnancy.
Granted, there are days when I feel like I can’t get out of bed. When the pollution is at a dangerously high level, I feel it when I walk outside, unlike a person with healthy lungs. At the end of those days, I’m completely exhausted. I have to try to get a flu shot to ward off infection, and if I get a cold, it lingers longer than in other people. Overall, though, sarcoidosis has not hampered my life. Most people I meet are surprised when I tell them I have it because they only hear the horror stories.
