Once, Richard Pryor roared through life.
He was married several times. He fathered seven children. Starred in films. Abused drugs. Underwent quadruple bypass surgery. And, through his controversial and cutting-edge comedy acts, he made the world laugh.
Today, Pryor is silent, his voice and his physical mobility stolen by multiple sclerosis. Now it is his daughter Rain Pryor who does the speaking for him, sharing her family’s story in hopes of educating people about the disease and raising money to find a cure.
“For me, it’s not just about my father anymore,” said Pryor, talking at a recent Sacramento luncheon to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. “It’s about all of our mothers and fathers and friends and families. My dad’s illness has given me the platform to fight for something meaningful.”
Rain Pryor is an entertainer in her own right. She is an actress, singer, writer and comedian who performs all over the world. Her stage show “Fried Chicken and Latkes,” based on her experience growing up as the daughter of an African-American man and a Jewish woman, has won awards and filled theaters across the U.S.
But perhaps her most important task, she said, is taking care of her father and acting as national ambassador for the MS Society.
MS eats at the protective sheath around nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord, eventually damaging the nerves themselves. It can cause permanent disabilities, including vision loss and paralysis.
Richard Pryor learned he had the disease in 1986, when Rain, the middle of seven siblings, was 17 years old.
The symptoms were subtle at first, but within a few years the disease began to take a toll on his ability to walk and drive. By 1994, he was no longer able to get himself out of bed and into his wheelchair. Rain became one of his main caretakers.
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About five years ago, Richard Pryor lost the ability to swallow food, and doctors had to install a feeding tube to provide nutrition. He can no longer speak, so father and daughter communicate “by blowing kisses,” Rain said. “That is the best he can do.”
Rain Pryor encouraged people who are newly diagnosed with MS to take advantage of the many new therapies available to reduce disability. At the time Richard Pryor was diagnosed, no effective treatment existed.
“I believe that had my father received these therapies, they would have delayed the progress of his disease,” Rain Pryor said.
“Not everyone is going to end up like my father,” she said.
“If I can help others, I’m one step ahead of the game.”