I have not seen anything posted about this, but just received this E-mail from a reliable source:

Margaret MacArthur has very little time left--a matter of weeks--to live. She has been diagnosed (by Dartmouth Medical Center) with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (the human equivalent of mad cow--always fatal, and very fast). This accounts for the seizures, disorientation, and memory loss Margaret has been experiencing. As recently as Mother's Day weekend, the doctors thought she had frontal-lobe epilepsy, but this definitive diagnosis came yesterday. This very rare disease is caused, not by a virus or a bacteria, but by a protein called a "prion" run amok--a normally harmless protein that somehow turns toxic and attacks the brain. The chances of getting CJD are something like one in a million.
Margaret is at home in Vermont, in hospice care, ensconced in a bed in her study with her family around her, and a bed for husband John in the same room.

The family has requested absolutely no visitors and no calls, but Megan said that cards and letters to Margaret would be very welcome. The address for written correspondence is: Margaret MacArthur, Box 15, MacArthur Road, Marlboro, VT 05344.
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I might add for those of you unfamiliar with Margaret that she is a delightful and dear person and has supported traditional music for many years as well as writing some delightful original compositions. I have seen her at the occasional Folk Alliance conference and I would consider her a mainstay of our community.

Rich

Rich Warren
"The Midnight Special" and "Folkstage"
WFMT Radio - 98.7 FM / syndicated and on XM Satellite Radio
5400 N. St. Louis, Chicago, Illinois 60625
Please send CDs to: P.O. Box 58, Mahomet, Illinois 61853
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