The battle against autoimmune diseases wages on around the world, and that battle is of particular interest to many people in the Shenango Valley area.

That is why about 70 people gathered Tuesday at the Radisson Hotel of Sharon in Shenango Township to hear Dr. Ronald E. Henderson talk about his experience with myasthenia gravis and his devotion to finding a cure for all autoimmune diseases.

Henderson, who was an obstetrician/gynecologist in Alabama, became ill in February 1994. He said he started to feel fatigued after exercise, then had to cut back his hours in surgery and then had to cut back the hours of his practice. Eventually he became so weak he was bedridden.

"I didn't know what I had," he said.

In November 1995 he was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, an auto-immune disease that causes not only fatigue but double vision, trouble swallowing and choking on food, drooling, trouble speaking and weakness in the arms and legs.

Autoimmune diseases are those in which the immune system turns against the body and causes inflammation, Henderson said. He said there are at least 60 known autoimmune diseases.