Letter sent to Irving Azoff
As most of us know one of the founding members of The Eagles, Glenn Frey passed away on January 19, 2016. In announcing his passing Irving Azoff, the longtime manager of The Eagles, made certain statements which I find troubling. Because of those statements, I drafted and mailed an open letter to Azoff. This is the contents of that letter.
Open Letter to:
Irving Azoff
Azoff Msg Entertainment Llc
Dear Mr. Azoff
First, let me say how sad I am at the passing of Glenn Frey. He was and remains an inspiration to many of us who suffer the ill effects of RA, Ulcerative Colitis or any autoimmune condition. But beyond that Mr. Frey was a wonderful and inspirational musician. Like millions I grew up with The Eagles, and yes like many of my generation I have purchased the album The Eagles “Their Greatest Hits 1971-75” often and I will no doubt purchase it again as I lose or scratch my current CD.
My reason for writing is that in commenting on the passing of Mr. Frey you are reported to have said that Mr. Frey “died from complications of ulcer and colitis after being treated with drugs for his rheumatoid arthritis which he had for over 15 years” (The Wrap January 19, 2016). That comment is at its root unkind. Your comment seems to place the burden of Mr. Frey’s death on the medication, instead of where it belongs, on the underlying disease.
Like Mr. Frey I am diagnosed with RA. Like many of us I use what are often called biologic medications to control the ill effects of RA. Without them my quality of life would be much less than it is today. Yet in taking these medications I accept risks. None of these medications come without side effects and those side effects can be horrific. I am fully informed of the side effects and have chosen as do millions like me, to use the medications. I am certain Mr. Frey also understood the potential side effects of the medications and he chose to use them because in his judgement the benefits outweighed the risks. That is a judgement almost every RA patient must make and in our community we support each person’s decision to use the medications or not.
One thing we in the RA community never do however is blame the medication for the underlying condition. RA and ulcerative colitis are autoimmune diseases. It was reported that Mr. Frey suffered from both and as such he joined many of us who deal with more than one autoimmune disease. It is an unfortunate fact that when we have two or more of these conditions, one condition often makes the other more difficult to treat. It is also reported that Mr. Frey suffered from pneumonia which is a listed side effect of most of these biologic medications available to us. This makes the use of these medications a difficult choice. Regardless those of us who take these medications are careful to always remember that if we have a complication it is the underlying condition we need to blame. RA caused us to take these medications not the other way around.
I also fear your comment reflects a common misunderstanding about the medications we take. Namely that we take too many and if we simply reduced the number or dose of these medications we would magically feel better. It is common for people we associate with to dismiss our pain and call it imaginary. Or just as bad blame it on the medications we use. Misplaced blame is a terrible mistake to make when discussing conditions like RA or Ulcerative Colitis. I call on you to correct the record and let fans know that when Mr. Frey and his doctors chose the medications he used it was done so with the best information available about the conditions he faced. We simply do not need your words supporting the real misconception that if we would reduce the medications used we would somehow magically be better for it.
In short let’s not blame Mr. Frey or the medications he was using for his passing. Let’s instead blame the real cause, the underlying condition and its effects on the human body. Let’s place blame where blame is due and when you do, I hope you will join those of us with RA or Ulcerative Colitis or any of the many other autoimmune diseases in finding better treatments, and someday a cure. Mr. Azoff please join us in in seeking cures for these conditions. I hope now that you have checked into the public discourse, you will stay, because these is plenty of room for you to help us find a cure.
Sincerely
Lawrence ‘rick’ Phillips Ed.D.
RADiabetes.com
-30-
rick
Just perfectly worded Rick, thank you for saying so clearly what many of us feel x
Denise:
Thank you for saying this. I struggled a bit with writing it and worked hard to get it as correct as I could. I know I was angry when I read the comment. By and large I tend to give people more slack when grief is involved and I have no doubt Mr. Azoff did not mean to upset many like he did. By the same token I wanted to let him know we paid attention, felt his grief, and hope he will join us to improve access to medications and understanding of RA.
rick
I doubt I will get a reply, and i pretty much doubt Mr. Azoff will ever see it either. But little miracles break through sometimes. I am hoping this will be one of those times.
rick