Richard Kiel as "Jaws

RICHARD "JAWS" KIEL,
FAMED BOND MOVIE VILLAIN, RAISES AWARENESS OFLIFE-THREATENING HORMONE DISORDER

Richard Kiel Today

56/150k - 300k

BACKGROUND:

It's hard to pronounce and even harder to live with. Acromegaly (ak-ro-meg-uh-lee) is a chronic, life-threatening disease triggered by overproduction of growth hormone, most often caused by a pituitary tumor. Untreated, this excess of growth hormone leads to overproduction of a second hormone, IGF-I, which causes the disabling symptoms and the long-term health problems associated with the disorder.

Patients with acromegaly often suffer from headache, excessive sweating, soft-tissue swelling, joint disorders and, perhaps most striking, a progressive coarsening of facial features and enlargement of the hands, feet and jaw. Untreated patients with acromegaly face a mortality rate two to four times higher than the average person, due to such serious long-term complications as heart and respiratory diseases, diabetes and some forms of cancer.

This week, physicians from all over the world are gathered in Boston for a first-of-its-kind medical conference to hear the latest, cutting-edge research findings on acromegaly and other growth hormone disorders.

SOT:

-- Richard Kiel, Accomplished screen actor, writer and producer who is most famous for his role as James Bond's steel-toothed nemesis "Jaws" in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. An instantly recognizable TV and movie villain for four decades whose films also include Happy Gilmore and The Silver Streak, Mr. Kiel is a person living with acromegaly who discusses from personal experience the debilitating symptoms of the disease and its effect on his quality of life.

-- Laurence Katznelson, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

B-ROLL INCLUDES:

-- Photos from Richard Kiel's autobiography
-- Animation of the pituitary gland
-- Doctor/patient b-roll
-- Graphic of acromegaly symptoms
-- Website

Video Provided By: MCS Public Relations