Contribution to our Board Member: In Loving Memory of Celine Gurdikian
By Evy Williams, Newsletter Editor
Chester County Association of the Deaf, Inc. News
For the first time in CCAD history, we lost our dearest friend and Board member, Celine Gurdikian. Celine has been with
CCAD board as a Vice President, Secretary, and Board member. A very friendly, outgoing, lovable, and couragable friend. She
has been battling the progressive disease called dermatomyositis in which she never once let it take over her life-she lived
day by day as it was the fullest.
It is very difficult for me to write this because personally she was someone I always enjoy being with, we always have
fun at the meetings and I really love her as my dearest friend. Celine always share her goals, hopes, dreams, and always never
let her frustration get in the way with her disease. Her love of life with the greatest happiness was with her husband, Ron
and enjoying her favorite hobbies in photography and swimming, Celine and Ron organized the 2002 CCAD New Year's Eve party
which was a success!
Being a former Deaf Olympian in swimming winning total of 12 medals in two games, she also was a swimming teacher. She
kept her life as she was living to the fullest because of that, she gave so much of her heart and touched many people's lives-hearing
and deaf alike.
My final thoughts...we will miss Celine dearly and we thank her for her whole heart for sharing who she is and being
part of our lives. We will pray for Ron as the days goes by. Her memory will always live on and we will honor her at our next
CCAD New Year's Eve party in 2004 as she was co-chair with Ron. Her name will remain on the CCAD Board till the end of
its term in 2004.
Long live Celine, in her loving memory.....we love you!
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CELINE GURDKIAN'S STORY: "LISTEN TO THE BODY"
By Celine Gurdikian (Winter 2002)
The Arthritis Foundation Training Team has asked me to present my story in honor of 180,000 Delawareans who suffer
from mild to severe forms of arthrits. I, Celine Gurdikian have experienced many years of a severe form of this kind of disease
that has made my life difficult. I have had polymyositis/dermatomyositis for almost 14 years. These are related diseases both
of which involve inflammation/swelling or irritation of the voluntary muscles that normally govern movement, such as the muscles
of the arms and legs. Myositis means inflammation of muscle. Polymyositis
means inflammation of many muscles and dermatomyositis means inflammation of muscles and skin. The
results of either condition is a moderate to severe case. Because of some of the medicines I must take I also have a couple
of side effects such as pulmonary fibrosis and diabetes.
Before I came down with the disease, I was a swimming athlete involved in high school and at 2 Deaf Olympics winning
awards and medals. I began feeling the effects of my disease after the 1989 games at the Eastern Zone Championships and was
diagnosed during my freshman year of college. My health has progressively worsened since then. To combat the effects of the
disease, my doctors encouraged me to do a lot of physical activities in which I perform at the YMCA. I found a brochure on
Arthritis Foundation Training team which interest me to register after permission from the doctors.
I began training to reach my goal to walk in a half walk marathon in Hamilton, Bermuda on November 17, 2002. I
was improving with progress with different workouts with the exception of during the hot months causing me to have trouble
breathing. I was placed on the supplemental oxygen that was portable weighing 10 pounds that I could put into my backpack.
I continued my training with the help of my coach, Amy Blithe and loving support from my husband, Ronald.
Finally the day arrived as I stepped into Bermuda, it was breathtaking and beautiful. On the day of the Great Bermuda
Walking Marathon, I prepared my self with power bars, receiving assistant from my pulmonary rehabilitation therapist, Natalie
Outslay along with Natalie's husband keeping supply of oxygen bottles along the route. The race began at 7am with 400 walkers
including myself. It was exhausting but I was being motivated to continue my goal by my therapist, the Bermudian people, different
organizations at the event, and many different people.
The best part of the race was that I completed at 9 hours and 17 minutes at 13.5 miles. I celebrated with tears of joy
realizing that I made it! I showed myself that "I can do it." After many years of struggling with this disease I was able
to compete again and accomplish a goal. This event has been an inspiration and reminder to me that I can keep going and live
life to the fullest. I will never forget this day.
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In Memory of CELINE
by Raymond Lawler, Celine's father
Memory is a selective process. When we grieve we tend to remember the good
days, the happy times, the triumphs. My memories of Celine, however, dwell on her constant struggle to overcome hardships,
pain, and tragedy.
As a hearing impaired child she strove mightily, often angrily, to surmount her handicap and to learn
the language of the hearing, spoken and written. The sport of swimming became her passion, her punching bag for venting her
her frustration and channeling her energies. It was her conduit for achievement. She was a 2 time all state high school swimmer
and won 11 medals including 3 golds at 2 World Games for the Deaf, the second of which, in Christchurch New Zealand, she was
the captain of the US team.
At 18 she was ready to face the world only to encounter another huge obstacle thrown in her life's
path. She was diagnosed with a rare immune system disease called dermatomyositis and was given only 5 more years to
live. Rather than give in to it she accepted it as a challenge and fought obstinately to overcome its ravages, out living
the predictions by 10 years.
She traveled Europe on a shoestring, finished a degree in photography, became a leader in the deaf
community, and found the love of her life in Ron. She loved him so much. All the while the disease took its inevitable toll.
More tragedy. She lost her mother to cancer a week before her wedding. She persevered. Her lungs weakened, her body pained.
Still she persevered.
