November 4, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Sometimes unusual pairings bring great results. Consider, for example, a partnership between the University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Palliative and Supportive Care and professional wrestling. Would you expect wrestlers like Jake the Snake and the Honky Tonk Man to work closely with an organization dedicated to compassionate care for patients facing a serious illness?

Well, it's a pairing whose time is about to come.

On Nov. 19, 2010, Wrestle Birmingham brings Jake, Honky Tonk, Paul Bearer, Brutus Beefcake and a slew of other wrestlers to town for an all-star benefit for the UAB Center for Palliative and Supportive Care.

The show is the brainchild of Wrestle Inc. promoter Linda Marx Keeble, whose late father V. Hugo Marx Jr. was a patient of the center in 2008 during his final illness.

"Several months after my mother died peacefully at home, my dad became sick," recalls Keeble. "It was his wish to die at home, too, and I was determined to find a way to keep him at home yet still get him the medical care he needed."

Keeble called the UAB Center for Palliative and Supportive Care. Shortly thereafter, Rodney Tucker, M.D., and Samuel Perna, D.O., were on her father's doorstep.

"You can only imagine the relief in my Dad's eyes knowing he had doctors willing to come to his home and care for him," Keeble says. "Doctors who were interested in his well-being even at age 92. They took care of his health needs, and they listened to his stories - football stories and army stories. They cared, which is why I'm hosting a professional wrestling show to raise money for this great organization."

The UAB physicians and palliative care coordinator Jackie Palmore made frequent visits to Marx's home. "We would visit every six to eight weeks during his last year," says Tucker, an associate professor of gerontology, geriatrics and palliative care. "We would check on his overall physical condition, review medications, determine if he needed tests or blood work. We even brought an X-ray machine once. It allowed a man who did not want to return to a hospital to die in his own home, surrounded by his family and his familiar comforts."

Christine Ritchie, M.D., director of the center, says, "The goal of palliative care is to relieve the pain, symptoms and stress of serious illness, whatever the diagnosis or prognosis. It is for people of any age and at any point in an illness. The focus of palliative care is to improve the quality of life for patients and help them and their families cope with their medical, emotional, spiritual and social needs."

The UAB Center for Palliative and Supportive Care celebrates its 10th anniversary this month. It is now one of eight National Palliative Care Leadership centers, and its faculty and staff have mentored 36 other palliative care programs across the nation.

The all-star wrestling extravaganza is at Boutwell Auditorium at 7 p.m.  Friday, Nov. 19. Call 205-254-7797 for tickets.

About the UAB Center for Palliative and Supportive Care

The UAB Center for Palliative and Supportive Care is a national leader in the field of palliative and supportive care, with demonstrated leadership in compassionate clinical care, collaborative research, community outreach and training.