# Céline Dion has announced that she has an incurable disease which affects her singing ability
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 8, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211 "2022-12-08T15:43:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/1 "2022-12-08T15:43:34Z")
> **[Celine Dion says she has stiff person syndrome, cancels and reschedules 2023...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2022/12/08/celine-dion-reveals-stiff-person-syndrome-diagnosis-cancels-2023-tour/10857493002/)**
>
> In a tearful video, Celine Dion said she's been diagnosed with stiff person syndrome which is what has caused her previous muscle spasms.
> “The spasms affect every aspect of my daily life, sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to,” Dion said. “I have to admit it’s been a struggle. All I know is singing, it’s what I’ve done all my life.”
> The disease is considered to be rare and only affects approximately one in a million people.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/2 "2022-12-08T16:17:12Z")
So the love no longer goes on… ☹
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### Author:  [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/3 "2022-12-08T16:26:25Z")
One doesn’t want to get/be sick, but one _definitely_ doesn’t want to get something medically rare (“When you hear hooves, think horses, not zebras”). She’s now either a zebra or … a unicorn.
I’m sure her substantial resources will be helpful, but I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/4 "2022-12-08T16:27:01Z")
I heard someone report this on the radio this morning and when he said “stiff person syndrome” I thought he was making a joke 🤦♀️
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/5 "2022-12-08T17:46:15Z")
It’s a bizarrely generic name for a debilitating incurable disease. What a shame to have your career and what you love to do taken away from you.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/6 "2022-12-08T18:00:08Z")
Yeah it sounds like whoever it was who studied the condition ended up at a loss of words for what to name it.
But damn that’s one raw deal. Can only wish for the best success in managing the condition.
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### Author:  [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/7 "2022-12-08T18:06:48Z")
First Linda now Celine. There should be some natural law against such brilliant talent being snuffed out by a random roll of the dice. 😢
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### Author:  [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/8 "2022-12-08T18:19:51Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#):
>
> There should be some natural law against such brilliant talent being snuffed out by a random roll of the dice.
This just proves they are normal human beings like most of us. If we want any natural laws, lets have them against childhood diseases such as Down’s syndrome, childhood diabetes and cancer and other things that take children way too soon. Dion has lived a full life and accomplished a lot. She has turned her dose of natural law into fame and fortune. It’s someone else’s turn.
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### Author:  [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/9 "2022-12-08T18:39:32Z")
You, of course, are not wrong. But I’m just so sad that their voices won’t be able to make more music. I watched the Ronstadt documentary “The Sound of My Voice”. She has pretty gracefully accepted her condition. It was so sad.
I also watch my husband, who was a pretty decent guitar player struggle with Parkinson’s. He hasn’t let go of his guitars or amps yet. Someday he’ll accept it enough to, but not yet. I think this personal connection has colored my reaction.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/10 "2022-12-08T19:35:33Z")
No matter if you have made millions with it or barely made ends meet, getting so sick that you can’t do the one thing anymore you know best, love to do and earn your money with must be terrible.
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/11 "2022-12-08T19:48:33Z")
This.
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### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2022, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/12 "2022-12-09T03:47:14Z")
According to one article I read about this, the condition can cause muscle spasms so severe that they can break bones. That’s just horrific.
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### Author:  [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2022, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/13 "2022-12-09T03:54:56Z")
I don’t disagree that childhood diseases are terrible things, but this shouldn’t be an either/or situation. Dion is only 54. Are you saying our “turns” are over before that?
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2022, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/14 "2022-12-09T09:44:46Z")
I think she’s being extremely optimistic to “reschedule” her tour dates. I may well be wrong (not a doctor, after all) but this doesn’t seem to be a disease that is curable. Perhaps it’s early enough that she can be stabilized somehow but even if she has another tour in her I doubt she’ll have two.
54 doesn’t feel that old these days (especially as I’m already older than that) but it’s not young any more. Live long enough you’ll pick up limitations, and that starts earlier for some people than others. It’s sad she’s got a disease, just like it was sad when Michael J. Fox had to give up acting because he had Parkinson’s and he was just around 40. Some people go on to a second career. Some retire.
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### Author:  [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2022, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celine-dion-has-announced-that-she-has-an-incurable-disease-which-affects-her-singing-ability/976211/15 "2022-12-09T10:29:52Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> No matter if you have made millions with it or barely made ends meet, getting so sick that you can’t do the one thing anymore you know best, love to do and earn your money with must be terrible.
Indeed. I’ve always loved to walk for exercise. It has served to keep my weight manageable and it has been a great help in clearing the cobwebs from my mind. I could easily walk for 5 miles every day.
Until this year. Something has happened and I am unable to walk for very far at all. This has caused me great sadness and it has had a negative affect on my weight.
I can certainly have empathy for someone losing something so central to their lives. Not to mention that disease sounds absolutely torturous. I am glad that she does have resources to help her cope with the terrible pain she must be feeling. I wish her the best.