Wisconsin's Weekend Morning News
Jennifer Beals - RSV
[Music] Ah, do you recognize that movie? Well, Actors Jennifer Fields has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows including one of those popular films of the 80s. Remember Flash Dance? Well, she also starred in one awards for her part in the award, it's both a performer and executive producer. But Jennifer has an important story to share that many of us can relate to. October is RSV Awareness Month and joining us to talk about her personal experience with the disease. Is actress producer Jennifer Fields and she's also joined by Dr. Leonard Friedland. Jennifer, you're only 60 years old. That's young. Plus, you're in great physical health. I understand that you do kickboxing, kung fu, your triathlete. How did you, of all people, end up with RSV? Thank you so much for having me, Libby. And I want to thank GSK for inviting me to partner with them on their RSV Awareness Campaign by sharing my experience. I love that you, it referred to the kickboxing and the kung fu. Those are misrepresentations of me. I'm pretty sure Wikipedia. But I did do triathlons by way of context for my experience of RSV. I have always been proactive about my health. I do consider myself an active person. I love being outdoors. I kind of need to be outdoors. It really puts me in a state of joy. I love open water swimming. It's probably left over from my triathlon days. And I love hiking and kayaking and playing pickleball. And I also have an active work life. If I'm not on set and, you know, usually I'm in daily meetings developing new projects. So when this first happened, I have to say the symptoms were really mild. Just felt like a little cold. I had a little bit of congestion and a low grade fever for a day. I took a COVID-19 test just out of precaution and that came back negative. So I just really went about my daily life as if I had a little cold. And then my symptoms started to get worse. You know, I started having trouble sleeping because I was so congested and I started to develop this persistent cough. And then suddenly all those things that I really love to do, like hiking and open water swimming and kayaking, all became more difficult because my breathing was compromised. And I could not figure out for the life of me what was going on. All I knew was that everything was that much harder to accomplish. So finally, I went to my doctor and I was shocked when she diagnosed me with RSV. Jennifer, how long did these symptoms last before you went to the doctor? Well, you know, I was so busy at the time and you know how it is. You know, you put things off. But I felt like I finally got to a tipping point where I just felt like I can't afford to be feeling this way for much longer. Like I have way too much to do. So I would say it's probably a couple of weeks before I went because I thought it was a cold. And there's also this sort of sneaky part of it where the symptoms will subside a little bit. And so you think you're done. And then all of a sudden they come roaring back. So when I went to the doctor, I was really surprised that she had diagnosed me with RSV because I thought it was an anomaly among adults. I thought really only young children and infants were impacted by RSV. And then I was shocked again when she told me that there was no specific treatment for RSV. And that the best thing that I could do would be to rest, which frankly is challenging for me. So I did my best and the symptoms lingered for two months. Oh my gosh. I, you know, I'm totally fine now. I'm completely fine. And frankly, you know, my bout with RSV was really mild compared with what can happen. But it was a real wake-up call to the potential severity of respiratory illnesses like RSV. Dr. Freeland, is this typical of a patient around Jennifer's age, 60 years old, otherwise in good health, where it just lingers, but you eventually get over it? Jennifer's story of her illness is absolutely typical of RSV. And fortunately, even though she had a prolonged course about two months to recover, fortunately she did recover fully. It's estimated that it's about 177,000 adults over the age of 65 who get sick enough that they end up needing to be hospitalized. Of that 177,000 hospitalizations in adults over 65, unfortunately 14,000 approximately die every year in the United States due to RSV. What we find is adults over the age of 60 with certain underlying health conditions such as chronic heart and chronic lung disease like asthma, COPD, congestive heart failure, people with diabetes, chronic kidney disease, people with weakened immune systems, people living in nursing homes. But the good news is there are now preventative options through vaccination to help protect adults over the age of 60. Jennifer, were you aware of the vaccination? No, I had no idea that adults got RSV. That certainly wasn't in my realm of knowledge for sure. It wasn't something that I was thinking about at all. Have you gotten the vaccine since? You know, that's a conversation that I'm going to have to have with my doctor since I just had it. I think I'll speak with my health care provider and people will have a real discussion about that. Is there any sort of lingering effect that you struggle with on a daily basis? Not at all, actually. Like I just went on a swim like a couple months ago and it felt great and started running again, started doing cross-country running again and that felt really great. So luckily for me, I'm all clear, but what concerns me are people who are in a demographic of 16 older who have underlying health conditions who, you know, might not fair so well. Those are the people that really concern me. Is there anything that you wish you had done differently when you first got the symptoms of a cold? Well, I wish I had gotten my diagnosis faster. Like I wish I'd gone to the doctor more quickly, but you know, you just, you get so busy. You get caught up in life and you think also that it's going to end. You think, oh, it's a cold. It'll be eight days. And so you're running around doing all of your work. You know, I'm producing all these different projects. I'm working on so many different things that, I thought, oh, eight days, okay, I can do eight days with a cold. And then it just started to get worse and I knew I had to get to the doctor. Jen, is there any upcoming project that you're working on? So she said you're working so hard right now. Yeah, I just finished a really beautiful film called Hello Out There. But I'll tell you, I was supposed to do a podcast with a friend of mine earlier this year and I was in London in order to do it. And I still was so congested. I said, guys, I can't, I can't do the podcast. I have to wait until it's cleared. And so it was, it was frustrating how it's gotten away at work sometimes. Dr. Preetan, how can we get more information about RSV? Absolutely speak to your doctor or your pharmacist and ask about vaccination. There's also a website to get information and that is sidelinersv.com. Jennifer, one last question. As so many young women, like myself, were inspired by your very first starring role in Flash Dance, where you played a steel welder, who wanted to be a dancer, have to ask me this question. Is it true you turned on an offer to be on Dancing with the Stars? I did. I did. I, I, those people are, they're just so talented and so amazing. Like, I, I still appreciate what they do, but that is just not my wheelhouse. Well, we enjoyed everything that we've seen you in. Jennifer Beals, along with Dr. Leonard Friedlan. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. I wish Jennifer Beals had taken them up on the offer of being in Dancing with the Stars. At least I know who she is compared to some of the people we've seen on there. Okay, it is 845. We've got 50 degrees at WTMJ.