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Letters: Living With OCD, Sports Rivalries

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

It's Wednesday and time to read from your comments. Last week, author Fletcher Wortmann shared his experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder and the even that triggered his OCD. One emailer lamented during the show that her son had just been diagnosed, and she was afraid how his life would turn out. A listener named Ruth wrote in to offer some advice: Please tell the mom who emailed about her young son to have lots of hope. My son had a sudden onset of severe and life-limiting OCD at age seven. He has been treated for it and is well-adjusted and has a rich and full life.

Our discussion about the legacy of Pat Summitt, the great basketball coach who's been diagnosed with symptoms of early onset Alzheimer's, prompted this from Beth, a fan from Minneapolis: I'm a huge women's basketball fan and have seen many games coached by Pat Summitt. I wish her well, but it was tough to watch her coach this year. It did not seem she was the same fiery person. Part of the entertainment of watching Tennessee women has been watching Pat. I wish her the best. Those are tough, tough shoes to fill if she does retire, and it'll be a big loss to women's basketball.

And Kaye from Cazenovia, New York, wrote to say: Pat Summitt has built a legacy that is so hard for people to grasp if they haven't followed women's basketball. Not only has she won more games than any coach in history in men's or women's basketball, but she spent long decades helping to establish the women's game, which is now just terrific fun to watch. It's heartbreaking to have this diagnosis, but Pat Summitt's illness and the way she's handling it will bring awareness to millions of fans, which may actually be an even more important legacy.

As always, if you have a correction, a comment or a question for us, the best way to reach us is by email. The address: talk@npr.org. Please, let us know where you're writing from and give us some help on how to pronounce your name. And if you're Twitter, you can follow us there, @totn. I'm Neal Conan. It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.