Lack of One Enzyme Triggers Illness

By Andrea Waxman
Published on December 1, 2005

Gaucher Disease is a rare, inherited disease caused by a hereditary deficiency of a single essential enzyme, glucocerebrosidase, according to the National Gaucher Foundation (NGF).

Artist Depicts Pain of Genetic Ailment

By Tom Tugend
Published on December 1, 2005

When he was 6 years old, Los Angeles artist Ted Meyer had two life-changing experiences. He won his first art show prize after copying a flamingo drawn by an older friend. Secondly, he was diagnosed as suffering from Gaucher Disease after intensive bouts of pain in his knees and hip bones.

The Art of the Matter

By Sharon Schatz Rosenthal
Published on October 3, 2002

When artist Ted Meyer was first diagnosed with Gaucher disease, a lipid-storage disorder that is the most common genetic disease affecting Jews of Eastern European descent, he used his artistic talents to express his pain.

The Trouble with Testing

By Jason B. Kohn
Published on November 4, 1999

As if we don't have enough problems, it seems there's an unlimited supply of horrific hereditary diseases just waiting to ensnare Jews and their children. Tay-Sachs cripples infants before their first birthday and eventually kills them, Gaucher disease erodes healthy bones and organs, Niemann-Pick, cystic fibrosis, Crohn's, Canavan and dozens of others. And that's just among Eastern-European Ashkenazi Jews. A host of other hereditary diseases affect Sephardic, Iraqi and Persian Jews. Does somebody up there hate us?