Did Don Knotts have eye disease?
Macular degeneration is an increasingly common eye disease that leads to central vision loss, affecting reading and writing, driving and even simple tasks like dialing a telephone and reading a wristwatch.
A new DVD featuring popular television star Don Knotts, actor Dabney Coleman, Olympic track star Marla Runyan, film critic Charles Champlin and other accomplished individuals, highlights the many ways in which people with macular degeneration are living independent, fulfilling lives.
AMDF founder and President Chip Goehring, who was diagnosed with macular degeneration at age 39, believes the video will play an important role in combating one of the disease’s most devastating—and least acknowledged—side effects: depression. “A diagnosis of irreversible vision loss can be devastating, especially at first. You imagine a life of social isolation and dependence, cut off from the people, activities and hobbies you used to enjoy,” Goehring explains. “This video shows that fear to be unfounded. It showcases people fully engaged in their lives, following their dreams.”
Coleman, a veteran of more than 100 films, including On Golden Pond and Nine to Five, recalls a tennis game five years ago when he suddenly discovered he couldn’t follow the ball. An ophthalmologist confirmed that he had macular degeneration in one eye, a verdict that came as a shock. “It never entered my mind that something could be permanently wrong,” he says. While vision loss in his affected eye has progressed, Coleman points out that researchers are making rapid progress in many areas of vision support and disease prevention.
Don Knotts, popular co-star of The Andy Griffith Show and Three’s Company, was 57 when he learned he had macular degeneration, a condition that now precludes him from driving and reading but still allows him to act in movies and plays and to follow his favorite exercise regime: lap swimming.
“I got pretty depressed for awhile,” Knotts acknowledges. “And then one day I said to myself, ‘I bet a blind person would give his right arm to have the vision I have.’”
“Outstanding… [The Hope and Cope DVD] will be an excellent resource for people everywhere. We are delighted to be able to direct our patients to the AMDF to receive the DVD and benefit from the other valuable services you provide,” said Dr. Miller.
We worked on this project with one of America’s leading documentary filmmakers. Dick Young, the producer and director, has years of experience in film, television and video. He has the distinction of having been nominated for three Academy Awards for documentary short subjects. Mr. Young’s films have appeared in theaters and on network television, both here and abroad. He has won numerous awards including a Citation from the American Diabetes Association and the Environmental Leadership Gold Medal from the United Nations Environment Programme.
