| Elaine Rester: is a caregiver and spouse of a post transplant Alpha One Antitrypsin Disease patient. She
has been married to Clyde for 30 years and dealing with COPD for 20 years. Her husband joined the Alpha One List on-line but Elaine was very skeptical
at what was going to happen. She noticed that the caregiver was pretty much ignored by the on-line community as well as the medical community
and felt left out. She decided to interact with the community with Clyde and as he became more incapacitated by his illness and struggling to work
too, she was left to take over our relationship with the on-line lists. She stated, "I wanted to learn and help my husband as much as possible
and to give the on-line community a perspective of the caregiver view. I truly think that the relationship between caregiver/spouse and patient
is very important. It must always be realized that the problems involve two people and not just one. I joined the COPD list in June of 1997
at the invitation of Paul Marks. He gave me the opportunity to help others by teaching me how to manage the list and interact with the people
in a quiet way by always being behind the scenes to help those in need. My husband is now three years post transplant and I still play the role
of caregiver/spouse in his life. Life is full of chores and responsibilities but I will always try to find time to help the COPD community". Elaine
is co-manager of the Lists along with Bill Powell. |