cover image COURAGE: One Woman's Dream and the Mighty Effort to Conquer Multiple Sclerosis

COURAGE: One Woman's Dream and the Mighty Effort to Conquer Multiple Sclerosis

Richard Trubo, , intro. by Sylvia Lawry. . Ivan R. Dee, $27.50 (302pp) ISBN 978-1-56663-414-4

In 1945, eight years after her brother Bernard was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Sylvia Lawry (1915–2001) placed an ad in the New York Times asking anyone who had recovered from the disease to contact her. The letters she received were not from patients in remission, however—there is no cure for MS—but from people also suffering from it. Trubo (Cholesterol Cures; How to Get a Good Night's Sleep) describes the evolution of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which Lawry founded in 1947, and which grew from an informal gathering in an office donated by the Academy of Medicine in New York City into an organization with dozens of national and international chapters. Lawry's tireless advocacy has led to earlier diagnosis of MS and drugs to treat its symptoms, improving the quality of life for many patients. But Trubo is careful to detail the conflicts as well as the success, as when Lawry's determination to devote 40% of all funds collected from cash-strapped chapters to the national organization for research angered chapter chairpersons. Although Lawry's achievements are remarkable, she never fully springs to life in this flatly written chronicle. As a biography of an organization rather than a biography of its greatest champion, this book will primarily appeal to people with a personal interest in MS. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)