Doctor Mike's Story

            I feel like I’ve told this story millions of times over the past 34 years. It’s funny, the longer I live, the more it feels like this is the story of someone else’s life. The crux of the story revolves around my sister Denise, and her diagnosis of psoriasis in the early to mid-1980’s. Times were very tumultuous back then, with my parents scrambling to try and get her the help she needed. For me, I had just graduated from High School and was getting ready to start my Freshman year of college as a pre-law student. 

            Watching the anguish on my parent’s faces led me to take more than a passing interest in what was happening. My sister is several years older than me, and because of this, we had always lived separate lives. This time however, that was not the case. I watched as my parents took Denise to doctor after doctor, and from one treatment to the next. She ultimately ended up in the University of Pennsylvania Hospital for a month, covering her body from head to toe in a stinky, messy tar-like substance. She needed to sleep with this tar covering her body so that the light box treatments she was receiving could better penetrate her skin.

Unfortunately, none of these treatments worked, and in fact her psoriasis was getting worse. At about the time my parents were told to get her a wheelchair, because the psoriasis was turning into psoriatic arthritis, is when they started looking for an alternative solution to her problem. That’s when we met my mentor and friend Doctor Glenn Scudder. Little did I know how much that meeting would change my sister’s life, and mine as well. I won’t spoil the podcast episode for you, but I can tell you that the story had a happy ending. So without any further fanfare, this is Doctor Mike’s story…