Former Baywatch star, mother, fashion designer and Alpha

Melissa Biggs looks like a model, tall, blonde and athletic. Or, looking at her, you might think she’s somebody you saw in a movie or on television. In fact, she’s all of those things.
She plays in a tennis league two or three times a week, runs her own business, cares for her daughter Macy, 12, and is “always, always busy.”

She’s not, however, the picture of health she seems to be. She gets pneumonia fairly often, for example; got it just this winter. Now 34, she was diagnosed with Alpha-1 two years ago. That was after years of frequent colds and pneumonia, visits to leading specialists and intensive testing by an allergist.
None of these led to the correct diagnosis. What did was a call from mom.

Her mother happened to be talking to distant relatives in South Dakota and learned about a strange illness that affected eight of them. One, who never drank, had died from liver disease; another, who never smoked, had died from emphysema. The condition, of course, was Alpha-1, and Biggs was diagnosed only because she asked to be tested.
The story sounds familiar to many Alphas.

(The allergist, by the way, had diagnosed severe allergies and “stoic asthma”. Just recently, she found out that asthma was a misdiagnosis; instead she has bronchiectasis, another condition commonly found in Alphas.)

Biggs grew up outside a small town in Oregon. As a child she studied drama and dance and worked as a model in Portland, where she appeared in many TV commercials and print ads. The family split up when Biggs was nine. She moved frequently with one of her parents or the other after that; she attended 14 grammar schools.

At eighteen, she decided to leave college and set out for Hollywood. She signed with an agency and worked with acting coaches including the legendary Roy London. She appeared for two seasons in “Baywatch”, made-for-TV films and theater films including “Rush Hour 2”.
She was a commercial model for several years, then formed her own talent agency, and worked as an assistant designer for a major contract furnishings design house.

In 2004, she created MacyJane Enterprises, a design house, and in 2006 she launched an exclusive T-shirt collection, PGD, which she distributes to high-end stores worldwide. She says her friend Paul Marciano, CEO of Guess? Inc., has been a major help with her commercial design projects.

A proper diagnosis is not a cure, of course, but it has made a big difference in her life. These days, she gets aggressive treatment for her lung infections and is on augmentation therapy. She has served as a spokesperson for Alpha-1 and this year will hold her second fundraiser for Alpha-1. She’s writing a book, “an inspirational biography,” and already has a publisher lined up.
“I’m living my life’s dream,” she says. “To help others and make a difference.”
Biggs lives in Santa Monica, California.


Video: Biggs on Her Business




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I almost lost my mom this week...

So it has been a really crazy week so far...even if you take away that work is crazy with legislative session going on and Alex having 3 teeth pulled on Tuesday. For those of you who don't know my has Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha-1), in short she has genetic lung disease.

She has not been feeling well for the last few days, Tuesday morning after only about 2 hours of sleep she work up with a 101.2 temperature. When I talked to here she said she felt icky, but nothing major. My step-dad went to work as normal (1:30 - pm - 11:30 pm). That night she started to feel really bad, she couldn't get enough oxygen (with her disease she has lost a lot of elasticty in her lungs). She couldn't get a hold of my stepdad at work and he left his cell phone at home. She started to panic, when he got home she was in respitory failure. He called 911 and the ambulance came and got her. He called me to let me know what was going and said he call me later.

At 2:30 he called and told me I needed to come because she wasn't turning around. I panicked, for many reasons, it's my mom, she is only 50, I am the one who has to make decisions for her medically if they have to be made...on and on and on. I emailed my dad and family before I left the house in a panic of my own, texted a couple of my friends on the way. Crying most of the way there and then I stopped and started sending vibes to my mom..."You are a fighter, girl-up, put your big girl panties on and fight this. I am not ready to lose you!"

When I got to the hospital, she had a mask on with a 5-point harness giving her albutirol, they had given her steroids and they were waiting for it to kick in. Her heart was 222 and blood pressure was 197/108. She was fighting the mask, the doctor and nurse kept telling her that if they took it off they would have to put a tube down her throat. At one point after getting there I almost passed out, I told the nurse I didn't feel good, they made me lay down and put cold rags on my head and got me some juice. I laughed later and told the nurse that my mom was getting to attention, because obviously everything is about me....lol

As the morning went on and she fought with the mask and became more awnery, her ehart rate went down to 150 and bloodpressure was at 120/66. MUCH better. She finally went to sleep at about 4:30, they then moved her to the ICU. She spent yesterday sedated and being pumped full of steroids and antibiotics.

I spoke with her this morning, they will be moving her to her own room today. She says she is feeling a lot better. She is very emotional right now, which is to be expected. They had to pump 80 percent of carbon dioxide out of her lungs that night.

The doctor told my stepdad and I that we almost lost her. The awesome thing about the doctor, he was the doctor who was in the ER in February 05, that told my mom about Alpha 1 and that she should be tested. So he knew her history and he knew how serious her situation was. So thank goodness for that.

So at this time she is on the road to recovery, but we don't know how long she will be in the hospital. I will keep you updated as I know more.