the same person for a long, long
time. And when they see you
out and about - for many mo-
ments they don’t even realize
that you’re sick. But the minute
you leave their sightline, sud-
denly you’re that person.”
combination of isolation, fear
people will go away and disap-
pear, fear they will treat you dif-
ferently, and fear that everything
you knew and loved will sud-
denly dry up. I really struggle
with that. I came to grips with it
pretty early on, but you’re never
“So you’ve got to tell people
content because there are al-
because you don’t want to lose ways days where it’s like maybe
the closeness with them and you they’ll find a cure for it tomor-
want some interaction before
row. Or maybe tomorrow they’ll
you go,” said Richards. “Peo-
find something that won’t cure
ple with this diagnosis live in a
me, but will give me another ten
constant state of fear. It’s the
years.”
Watch a video for “Traveling Light” by Leonard Cohen
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 44
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