Author: Donna Whittaker
Titled: "Cecile "Frankie" Wu: What She Meant to Others and Me with Myasthenia Gravis in Kansas City"
In prior MGA blog posts, I have expressed how alone I was with my myasthenia gravis (MG) diagnosis for twenty years. Cecile “Frankie” Wu was one of the first fellow MG patients I met in 1977-78. She is my role model and inspiration that living a long, full life with MG is possible.
Frankie and her husband William Q. Wu, M.D. were founders along with Joan and Rev. William Stackhouse of the Myasthenia Gravis organization in Kansas City. Thanks to their dedication and insight, Kansas City has a vibrant organization for meeting the needs of MG patients in the greater Kansas City area.
Having met as students at the University of Michigan, the Wu couple married in 1945. Their MG journey began shortly thereafter in the late 1940s. Frankie was in an iron lung, very weak and unable to breathe on her own. Her doctors were puzzled. Dr. Wu, then a resident, researched and was able to determine that she had a rare condition, myasthenia gravis.
Myasthenia Gravis was a huge challenge for the young couple. In 1950, they moved to Kansas City and began their family life with two sons. They knew the importance of everyone, especially the medical community, being familiar with this rare condition.
Dr. Wu was a neurosurgeon at Menorah Medical Center, then on Rockhill Road across from the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus. Menorah became the home of the Myasthenia Gravis organization at the urging of Dr. Wu and Joan Stackhouse. The charter meeting was held at Menorah on April 9th, 1961. Its office, clinic, and meeting rooms were housed there free of charge for many years. The clinic was staffed with doctors who were experts in the care and treatment of MG. MGA even had a drug bank for low-cost myasthenia gravis medications. The clinic and drug bank were valuable services for patients like me who did not have health insurance coverage.
The Kansas City MG organization was a leading chapter of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America. The Kansas City area hosted the national annual meeting twice at the Crown Center, an ideal location for patients with limited strength for walking between convention hotels and meeting rooms. MG patients liked the location so much in 1980 that they came back a few years later to Crown Center. Dr. Ronald Youmans, the Kansas City MG clinic’s expert neurologist, hosted breakouts for leading MG expert neurologists on the MGFA Medical Advisory Board from around the nation to share ideas on diagnosing and treating this rare condition.
Frankie and Dr. Wu were both active in the new organization for years and welcomed other patients and medical professionals with smiles and warmth to these national and local annual meetings. Frankie’s friends and everyone who met her have memories of her vivacious, resilient, daring, fun-loving, and mischievous personality.
Dr. Wu and Frankie traveled to his Chinese homeland several times, not only visiting his relatives who lived there but sponsoring students to come to the United States to study. In Kansas City, they welcomed the students and guided them culturally.
In addition to helping the education community, they participated in activities involving the arts. Frankie was a Renaissance woman who could discuss many topics. As a poet, Frankie encouraged others to write from their hearts. She had a long well-lived life.
Why do I say Frankie Wu is my role model, inspiration, and hope for living a full life with myasthenia gravis? In her 80’s her MG was in remission. She danced and exercised. She continued her active involved lifestyle. At that time, I was barely in my 40s, but she gave me hope mine would also go into remission as I aged. Now in my 70s, my MG is doing well. I am not in remission, but well-controlled on a few medications. I am working part-time and remain active in my community. Thanks to Frankie I know it’s possible to have a long well-lived life with myasthenia gravis. She lived into her 90s.
Copyright Donna Whittaker 2020
NOTE: The MGFA Annual Meeting was also held in Kansas City, Missouri, at a Plaza hotel recently but both Dr. and Frankie Wu had passed. Their legacy does live on.
The following blog post was written by Donna Whittaker, a lifelong reader and writer. From editing the high school yearbook to employment and volunteering endeavors, writing has been her contribution. She has written numerous articles on all aspects of living with myasthenia gravis. She was one of the first myasthenics to share her experiences on a website devoted to living with myasthenia gravis in 1996. Her latest work is an eBook, HOPE For Living a Long Full Life With Myasthenia Gravis, with journeys of friends with myasthenia gravis for 25 years or more to give hope especially to newly diagnosed patients for living a long life with this chronic condition. It is free and available by emailing: HOPE4MGliving@gmail.com