Dr. Dillie Grunauer, the beloved and longtime partner of Renee C. Hanover, died after a long illness. She was 78.
Grunauer was a neurologist with Cook County Hospital since the late 1970s. She was well-respected in her field; very involved with Jewish organizations and the State of Israel; and active in the lesbian and gay rights movement. She was active with Havurat Achayot, a Jewish lesbian organization, and supported numerous gay and lesbian causes.
Grunauer was the loving stepmother of Paul ( Nancy ) Hanover; cherished grandmother of Sarah; and treasured cousin of Shirley London.
A friend of Grunauer wrote the following for friends and family: "A neurologist, herself, Dillie readily acknowledged that less was known about the brain than any other organ. Dillie was an inspired diagnostician; she made what seemed to be a correct self-diagnosis of her own cruelly ironic condition. She consulted with the neurologist who, in 1982, assigned the name Primary Progressive Aphasia, PPA, to a rare neurodegenerative syndrome; he established the diagnostic criteria for PPA in 1987. While in Spain, at a medical conference in 2000, Dillie became aware of a 'slowness' in her speech, nothing more. Dillie was a deft medical researcher long before the rest of us had PCs and, in 2004, at their first meeting, she told the doctor that she thought she had PPA. After examining her, he confirmed her diagnosis.
"She wrote a letter to her renowned physician and presented it at her November, 2007 appointment. 'In 2004, my writing was as my speech was 3 years ago ( 2001 ) . Now I am completely mute. I am like the man in The New England Journal … who was an amateur pilot who had to stop flying because he could no longer communicate with the 'ground'. I have PPA without Dementia. ( my diagnosis ) .' Memory impairment is included among the diagnostic criteria for PPA. Dillie could recall virtually every moment of every event in her life and her medical vocabulary was all there, too, locked inside her head with no way to express it because she could neither speak nor write intelligibly. Dillie agreed to an exhaustive neuropsychological evaluation. Her point was validated and the doctor changed his diagnosis. But her condition was sui generis, unique. A diagnosis was impossible and irrelevant.
"Being consigned to expressive bondage is a difficult state to imagine; even insignificant communication requires great effort, every minute of every day. … Dillie survived it all [ including two forms of cancer ] but something else was happening to her that was not palpable. She knew a motor-neuron condition when she saw it. ALS and several other diagnoses were ruled out; no neurologist was ever able to label her condition.
"She was always somewhat inscrutable and impenetrable and that was true of her medical condition, too. For the last few years it's been described only by broad, vague and indeterminate words and remains a mystery yet to be solved.
Grunauer had always shunned credit for doing mitzvot ( acts of giving of your time and resources simply because they need to be done ) . She was the anonymous serial donor who gave to countless causes and charitable organizations. She knew that medical knowledge can be advanced through research. It is only fitting she thought her brain would be the most useful possession she could leave to others.
A service for Grunauer was held Oct. 17 at Anshe Emet Synagogue. Interment was at Skokie's Memorial Park Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Anshe Emet Synagogue and Congregation Or Chadash, 5959 N. Sheridan, Chicago, Ill., 60660. For information, contact Shalom Memorial Funeral Home at 847-255-3520 or www.shalom2.com .