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Mrs. Ford Now on Her Own
Though her daughter, Susan Ford Bales, took over as chairman of the center in 2005, the 88-year-old Mrs. Ford remains deeply involved in the day-to-day operations and spends at least two days a week there talking to patients and staff, Schwarzlose said. More than 200 patients and staff gathered at the clinic for a memorial Wednesday, collecting personal notes to pass on to the Ford family.
It was Mrs. Ford's family that forced her in 1978 to confront her addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs, which she took for painful arthritis and a pinched nerve in her neck. She would later describe herself during that period as "this nice, dopey pill-pusher sitting around and nodding."
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"As I got sicker," she once recalled, "I gradually stopped going to lunch. I wouldn't see friends. I was putting everyone out of my life." Her children recalled her living in a stupor, shuffling around in her bathrobe, refusing meals in favor of a drink.
Her family finally confronted her and insisted she seek treatment. She credited their "intervention" with saving her life. Four years later, she opened the center to help others.
For the center's 20th anniversary, Mrs. Ford threw a black-tie gala that featured a rare gathering of five former first ladies: Nancy Reagan, Rosalynn Carter, Barbara Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton, in addition to the hostess.
The American Society of Addiction Medicine honored Mrs. Ford in 2000 as a role model for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.
Shortly after her husband became president in 1974, she underwent a mastectomy to remove a cancerous breast. Her disclosure of the surgery and recovery from it showed others that it was possible to beat cancer and live a full life, said Dr. Richard Wender, president of the American Cancer Society.
"She opened the door for thousands of women to seek support and to be open about their diagnosis," he said.
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AP Science Writer Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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