# A great loss to the ME-CFS field



## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

From Co-Cure: ************************************************We lost a great advocate for ME-CFS on Sunday. Anthony Mazzola died, aged 69, 11 days before his retirement party. Tony Mazzola was persuaded of the severity of ME-CFS not by specializing in the field, but because he was a specialist in the field of nuclear medicine. Thus he had no personal investment in taking sides and could not be accused of helping patients in continuing their false illness beliefs. He was a rare beast, a sceptic who became a believer because of a test he performed. Most of his work was with cancer patients, who rarely are accused of feigning illness. I believe I was the first ME-CFS patient he administered the Cr51 test to, as he'd made a little joke about how he had "chronic fatigue" too every day at about 4:30. My test results, however, astonished him. And the more ME-CFS patients he tested the more indignant he became about how shabbily we have been treated. As a pioneer in the field of nuclear medicine, and a developer of the Cr51 test, he certainly had the experience to know when results were seriously abnormal, and he found the results of people with ME-CFS to be astoundingly low. I think it's safe to say that he had little use for other methods of blood volume testing as he considered both the Evans Blue Dye and the albumen test to be less accurate than CR51. He did grumble a bit about doing the test as it was very finicky, but he did it because it was the best.He also defended us. He was truly angry when he found someone being accused of malingering, indeed he was impressed how well we managedconsidering how little blood we have. He defended patients to their families. He couldn't understand how anyone would think that someone would willingly give up a 6 figure income to become homebound, isolated, impoverished.And he was a delightful person. He saw patients as people, not as the bottom line for the hospital.His obituary comments that he was "one of the first nuclear medical technologists in the US, and had been chief of nuclear medicine atSalem Hospital (MA) since 1962".The obituary further states: "Tony was a mentor, a teacher, and a friend to more than 150 students of Nuclear Medicine world wide. He showed dedication and compassion to every patient he came in contact with, which is how Tony was."I know too well how tight money is, but donations large or tiny may be made in Anthony Mazzola's name to the North Shore Medical CenterFoundation, Nuclear Medicine Education Fund, 81 Highland Avenue, Salem MA 01970. You might note on your check that you are an ME-CFSpatient. It would make a statement to Salem Hospital, which is part of Partners Org. who run Massachusetts General Hospital and Brighamand Women's Hospital in Boston. It's a chance to thank someone who fought for us, and perhaps to increase awareness about the illness. The surviving nuclear medicine team at Salem Hospital are well aware of the seriousness of ME-CFS. But as we all know, hospitals are run by administrators, not doctors or tech teams.Tony came to my aid more than once in convincing Salem Hospital staff that indeed ME-CFS is a very real and serious illness. When a surgeon told me that my hematocrit was fine, I just told him to talk to Tony about it. I think the message got across.Jean HarrisonMAME inc


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