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American Morning
Tina Wesson Raises Awareness for Arthritis
Aired August 21, 2001 - 09:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: The winner of "Survivor: The Australian Outback:" Tina.
(CHEERING)
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of Americans were watching this past spring when Tina Wesson became the winning survivor in "The Australian Outback," but what we didn't know was that Tina outwitted, outplayed and outlasted her competition, despite suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.
Tina Wesson is now using her "Survivor" fame to help raise awareness about arthritis, which affects 43 million Americans, or about one in every six of us, believe it or not.
By the year 2020, it's estimated there will be 60 million baby boomers who will be affected by arthritis. It is the leading cause of disability in the U.S., and it costs this country nearly $65 billion a year. So it's very serious business here.
And Tina Wesson joins us live this morning, as you see there, from Knoxville, Tennessee. Good morning, how are you doing?
TINA WESSON, "SURVIVOR" WINNER: Good morning. I'm doing great, thank you.
HARRIS: Do you mean to tell me that your arthritis never kicked up at all during your competition?
WESSON: No, it really didn't. As a matter of fact, it's probably the best I've ever felt in seven years while I was out there.
HARRIS: No kidding?
WESSON: No, yes. I think it's probably a combination of three elements: One is that it was 120 degrees out there, so the warmth got in joints and it felt wonderful; I was on a strict rice diet, which there wasn't a lot of food additives in my system; and the third point is, whenever I'm here at home I'm usually a little excessive in my exercising, out there I have hours and hours and hours of nothing to do but rest.
HARRIS: Yes.
WESSON: So, I think those three things really worked together to kind of keep my arthritis quiet while I was out there.
HARRIS: You know that's interesting, because that's kind of a contradiction in the advice that you're actually giving people about arthritis. You are saying they should be getting out and exercising. And you are saying here the rest actually helped you?
WESSON: Well actually, you are supposed to rest, but you're also supposed to put exercise into your daily routine, too. My point is that I maybe exercise a little too much throughout my day, normally. I need to kind of take it easy and not exercise quite as much.
HARRIS: So, you're a little miss overachiever, is that it?
WESSON: Yes, that would be it.
HARRIS: As a matter of fact, speaking of overachieving, you just ran a marathon. Is that right?
WESSON: Well, I did that in 1998.
HARRIS: OK, a couple of years ago.
WESSON: Yes. And I did it with the Joints In Motion, with the Arthritis Foundation which raises money for arthritis as well. Which is the only reason why I did this thing. And my doctor said you can do one and only one. So I worked with doctor to help me run the marathon to begin with.
HARRIS: That is probably smart. I have to say this in the interest of full disclosure, I have arthritis too, except mine is a different. I'm osteo, not the rheumatoid. So, I was surprised to read about how you said your onset hit you. It was relatively quickly. You said you were exercising and it pretty much just flared up on you in a matter of a couple of days?
WESSON: It really did. Actually, I had gone to play tennis that day and I got out of my car and I was very, very sore. And over the next two or three days it got so bad that I had to sleep sitting up. I could not get in and out of the bathtub by myself, and I'm a very healthy person. And I knew something was very, very wrong with me. And I went to the doctor immediately, which is very important.
Because, if you don't go to the doctor, they say that the first two years, that's whenever you get irreversible bone damage. So I immediately went to the doctor and got help.
HARRIS: Is that unusual to have it flare up the way it did on you? Because, I don't think I've heard about that before.
WESSON: You know, I'm not sure how it affects other people. It may affect people differently. That's just how it affected me. You know you get a lot of swelling in your joints. I had like 12 pounds of water attack my joints. HARRIS: And now you are out spreading the gospel about arthritis.
WESSON: Yes.
HARRIS: And as I understand it, there's actually some people who didn't like the idea that you were involved with this. Is that correct? Can you explain that?
WESSON: Yes. It's very, very difficult. Whenever some people have the disease so bad that they can't hold a brush, they can't button their shirts, they're going to resent someone who has a mild form of this disease and they're able to live a relatively normal life. So I think there was a little bit of resentment involved.
But my point is, with 43 million people being affect, whatever I can do to raise funds and raise awareness, I'm going to do it.
HARRIS: You just did it. You just did it. And we thank you for spending some time with us this morning, and sharing with us your "Survivor" celebrity.
WESSON: Well thank you.
HARRIS: We sure do wish you luck. I'm going to keep an eye on you...
WESSON: Thank you so much.
HARRIS: ... I want to see how all this fame and fortune changes you. All right?
WESSON: Well, thank you.
HARRIS: Good luck, we'll talk with you some other time. Take care.
WESSON: All right. OK, bye-bye.
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