Thank you for that very moving obituary for Dr Denton. She was a real leader despite the problems with her tenure at Santa Cruz.

I'm a bit disappointed at Broadsheet for waiting 2 weeks to finally acknowledge Dr. Denton's passing and by the fact that most of your coverage was gleaned from a much better NYTimes piece. (The Times finally got something right.)

Perhaps to correct the error you'd consider doing a more in-depth article about thyroid disease--and how hypothryoidism can actually cause severe depression (among other life-threatening conditions)? I don't know if that's what Dr. Denton had, but you'd be doing a public service if you dug into this.

It's been reported in some of the news coverage that Denice Denton had a cancerous thyroid removed in her 20s. Various news sources said that Denton's mother confirmed that her daughter had been treated for "an acute thyroid condition."

The reasons for Denton's suicide, and the full extent of the issues she faced, may never be known.

But the fact that Denton was a thyroid patient -- and apparently, one who was not receiving adequate treatment, if she was still having "acute" issues -- may very well be an important, if not key, factor in her suicide.

Thyroid disease is estimated to affect as many as one in five women by the time we're 60, and so Denice Denton was hardly alone in dealing with a thyroid condition. But where medicine fails us is that half of the estimated 30 million+ women in America affected aren't even diagnosed, much less treated.

And among those of us who are treated, many get inadequate or inexpert treatment, leaving us to struggle with severe depression, fatigue/exhaustion, weight gain or difficulty losing weight, infertility/recurrent miscarriage, body aches/pains, and a host of other symptoms.

We're told we're "stressed, depressed and PMSing," and handed more prescriptions for everything from Prozac to Lipitor, instead of getting the kind of thyroid treatment that can help resolve our symptoms.

I've had a number of thyroid patients write to me to tell me that Denice Denton's tragedy might help the public become more aware of how serious and debilitating thyroid-related problems -- especially depression -- can be.

One thing seems certain: Denice Denton clearly wasn't receiving proper thyroid treatment. Whether that would have resolved her depression or even prevented her suicide we'll never know, but for Denice's sake, I wish she'd had a chance to find out.

-- Mary Shomon

Thyroid Patient Advocate, Author

www.thyroid-info.com / http://thyroid.about.com

Obviously, I'm not keeping up with news from my alma mater. I was a student at UC Santa Cruz many years before Dr. Denton became Chancellor. I don't know much about her thyroid condition, or really much about her for that matter, but I'm deeply disturbed by the reports of homophobia and violence. When I went to UCSC there couldn't have been a more accepting community for gays and lesbians. The campus was very pro-feminists (perhaps too much so, but that's for another letter), and was well-known for its inclusiveness and tolerance. Santa Cruz was so tolerant in fact, that not only were young gays and lesbians out, but questioning people had the freedom to experiment wit their sexualities to a dregree unheard of on most campuses. It was really a remarkable place, and if these reports of homophobia and property attacks are true, Santa Cruz has sadly changed for the worse.

Although I know women students, graduate students and professors are forced to deal with a lot of discrimination and bias, I find it very hard to believe that Chancellor Denton was subjected to "unrelenting homophobic attacks" as Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz. As a former President of the UCSC Alumni Association, I had the privilege of meeting Chancellor Denton at a reception in Los Angeles shortly after her appointment and heard her speak at two functions just this April on campus. In all my conversations with staff, faculty and other alumni, the subject of Chancellor's sexual orientation wasn't even considered notewothy (and was unknown to me until I read her obituary in the L.A. Times which mentioned her partner, and which I encourage Broadsheet readers to view). On the other hand, all were impressed to have someone of Chancellor Denton's stature and groundbreaking achievements heading our University.

When the news broke about the Chancellor's daath, I received several calls from fellow Alumni who wanted to share their shock and sadness. I wish that your article had focused more on the affection and respect felt for Chancellor Denton and the loss felt by our community, rather than giving so much weight to what you rightly label as "speculation."

Dr. Denton was a pioneering woman and we are all that much better off because of her, but yet we have been cheated due to her untimely death. Her suicide is a tragedy for the UC community of which I am both an alumni and an employee. That said, hypothyroidism is not a problem of the "troubled" or weak-willed. It is pure hell. If you have not experienced it or aren't close with someone who has, you have no idea. My own raged for a year before I was diagnosed and I absolutely lost my mind. I was essentially bipolar before I received the correct treatment. I was exhausted, cold, bloated, irrational, you name it. My long curly hair was so dry and brittle I ended up cutting off 12 inches of it. My entire life was essentially turned on its head. Only now, seven months after I first received treatment, are things back to normal.

Hypothyroidism can kill you. Whether through a tragedy like suicide or through falling into a coma, which can happen when it rages uncontrolled for years. Let's learn one more thing from Dr. Denton: when things start going wrong with your body, go to the doctor and keep pushing until you feel better. If your doctor doesn't listen, find another.

While the suicide of anyone is sad, the thought that Dr. Denton committed suicide in response to harsh criticism is just that much sadder.

It is, however, entirely possible that her thyroid issues were the cause of her suicide. If she was severely hypothyroid (low thyroid function) she would have been, also, severely depressed, as one leads to the other.