Case 2: Miles Davis
Regarded as one the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis epitomized the style, individuality, and improvisation commonly associated with jazz music. The son of a wealthy dentist, he was sent to study music at Julliard Academy in the 1940s, but left after growing tired of their emphasis on Classical style. He went on to have a successful but turbulent career that was interrupted on several occasions by his numerous medical conditions. In addition to suffering from poorly controlled type II diabetes and several bouts of alcohol and drug abuse, he began having crippling joint pain in his late twenties that forced him to temporarily retire from public performance. By the 1960s he was playing in almost "constant pain" and frequently self-medicated with alcohol and narcotic drugs. His later years were also marked by severe back pain, episodes of abdominal pain leading to a cholecystectomy, and a hip replacement for a "collapsed segment of bone". He died in 1991 after a hospitalization for a stroke lead to a rapidly-progressing episode of pneumonia. Throughout his life he rarely spoke about his illness and only mentions it briefly in his autobiography. Which congenital condition ties all of his symptoms together?
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| Miles Dewey Davis III (1926-1991) |
Answer (highlight to see): Sickle-Cell Anemia (Vaso-occlusive crises, avascular necrosis, gallstones, stroke, pneumococcal bacteremia)
