On Top Of RA And Feeling Lucky

I picked up the phone and heard, “Hi, this is Tatum,” and my vision went black and white for a second. Hearing that raspy voice, I saw Tatum O’Neal, at 8 years old, as Addie Loggins in the 1973 movie, Paper Moon, which was shot in black and white. Tatum, so young, nailed the part and won herself an Oscar.

- Marcy O'Koon Moss

Back to reality, in full color. Tatum, now 52, needed to talk. She told me she’d reached out to the Arthritis Foundation because she’d been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) “with some osteoarthritis mixed in there” a little more than two years ago. She was so warm and sincere; we talked for a long time about her diagnosis and her experience. She wanted to understand the disease and how it affects people and creates a need for connection with others who have RA.

Although she has a good support system, she said, “I don’t think people understand.”

A TOUGH ROAD

Tatum and I stayed in touch, and on a beautiful day in Los Angeles, we finally met. She described how her RA seemed to come on slowly and then all at once. She was already in what she describes as a “low state,” dealing with pain from several neck and back disc surgeries in recent years and unhappy knees – one kept ballooning, refusing to heal after meniscal repair surgery. But this was different. “The pain changed in nature and location. It was scary,” she says. She had difficulty walking, and thought, “Wow, something is so bad.” 

Then one night it hit her hard. Her right hand swelled and ached “unbelievably.” A rheumatologist diagnosed RA, and an MRI revealed damage in her ankles. “That was a sad day,” she says.