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Lucille Ball, the famous comedienne and zany star of the “I Love Lucy” television series, was just 17 years old and working as a model when she suddenly developed a fiery pain in both her legs. ‘It was so bad, I had to sit down, ' she wrote in her autobiography, Love, Lucy. She had recently recovered from a bout of pneumonia and a high fever; now this! The Doctor's diagnosed her with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The doctor did ask if Lucy wanted to try an experimental treatment – injections of ‘horse serum'. Finally, months later, the pain began to ease, and Lucy was able to stand up on weak and shaky legs. Lucy's hard work and perseverance paid off. Lucy was able to return to New York; she made

several films and eventually starred in her own television series.

Question? Does anyone KNOW THE NAME or THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION of the (HORSE SERUM) used in the 1920's that Lucille was given.

Lucille Ball, the renowned actress, Suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

From her Book: Love Lucy an Autobiography by Lucille Ball p. 47. (Digital Copy)

One winter day, I came down with a bad cold that turned into pneumonia. I stayed in my room restlessly for several days, tossing with fever, but then hurried back to Hattie's. I needed that thirty-five dollars a week.

I was standing on the dais for a fitting when suddenly I felt as if both my legs were on fire. The pain was excruciating. Hattie kindly sent me to her own doctor, around the corner on Fifth Avenue. He told me that the pains were arthritic, possibly rheumatoid arthritis. This is an incurable disease which becomes progressively more crippling until the sufferer ends up in a wheelchair for life.

“You must go to a hospital at once, ” Hattie's doctor told me. I did some rapid calculations. “I only have eighty-five dollars to my name, ” I told him.

He then gave me the address of an orthopedic clinic up near Columbia University. That night I sat waiting my turn for three hours while the city's poor, some of them horribly crippled, went in and out. It was ten o'clock before my turn came.

The clinic doctor examined me and shook his head. I was by this time crying and half fainting from the pain. He asked if he could try a new and radical treatment, some kind of horse serum, and I said yes, for God's sake, anything. For several weeks I stayed in my room, and he came and gave me injections;

finally, when my money ran out and my legs still were not better, there was nothing left to do but go home to Jamestown. One of my beaux drove me to Grand Central Station and pushed me to the train in a wheelchair. I was discouraged but not terribly frightened. The confidence of the young is truly remarkable.

Johnny met my train at Buffalo and drove me to my family's apartment on Wilcox Avenue. Daddy was back home again, thank goodness. He lectured me on taking better care of myself, and DeDe, although still working all day long herself, devoted her evenings to massaging my legs and cheering me up.

For the first few months I was in such pain that time passed in a kind of blur. We kept up the horse serum injections, which were then considered a highly experimental, even last-ditch experiment. I was a guinea pig who survived, and the pain gradually subsided. Finally the day came when, with the support of Daddy and the doctor, I shakily stood up. We found that my left leg was now somewhat shorter than my right leg.

It also pulled sideways, and to correct this, I wore a twenty-pound weight in one of my ugly black orthopedic shoes. The metal weight felt cold against my foot, and the pain as I clomped around was like needles. For my morale, I wore some heavy blue satin pajamas that I had bought on sale at Hattie's. Pajamas for women were just becoming fashionable; I think I was also the first female in Jamestown to appear on the street in slacks.

One happy result of my long illness was that I did learn to take better care of myself. I tried to get my full eight hours' sleep a night, and I ate fewer starches and carbohydrates. I still go without the right food when I'm busy, and often skip lunch or dinner altogether. This has the strange effect of making me gain weight, since my body retains fluid. Dr. Henry Beiler, whose patients include Greta Garbo and Gloria Swanson, wants me to eat a small meal every few hours, and I'm trying to do this. He doesn't believe in pills or medicines, but he accomplishes wonders with food. It's shocking how many doctors in Beverly Hills never once ask during a consultation what you eat.