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Monica Seles Shares “Life Lessons” for The Elisa Project

Friday’s Life Lessons Luncheon benefiting The Elisa Project was a joyous occasion at the Hilton Anatole despite the fact that its namesake, Elisa McCall (pictured), died in 1996 at the age of 20. As you probably know, Elisa’s death resulted from her battle with an eating disorder. Her parents Leslie and Rick McCall transformed their grief into the creation of The Elisa Project in 1999 to help others with such a condition.

So, how could such an event be “joyous”?

First of all, thanks to the McCalls and a dedicated group of volunteers, the local effort is showing all the signs of becoming a national model for education and assistance in treating the disease that affects 10 million girls/women and one million boys/men. Hmm, didn’t the Susan G. Komen for the Cure have a similar story starting in Dallas?

Second, new executive director/SMU graduate Sharon Seagraves has had experience in working with similar health programs on a national basis.

Third, Sharon told the 650 guests that she was just notified hours earlier that the McCalls were going to kick off the second decade of The Elisa Project with a win-win opportunity–for every dollar donated to The Elisa Project, the McCalls will match it up to $25,000.

Fourth, Monica Seles (pictured) was the featured speaker.

Whoa, what the heck does the former queen of the tennis courts (ranked #1 for 178 weeks, but who’s counting) have to do with eating disorders? She’s healthy; she’s gorgeous; and she’s just as nice as can be.

Ah, but she had a little secret that went unknown until she went public with her recently-released book, Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self. It seems that her sweetheart life had been vexed with loneliness, depression, and fear over the years. Finally, having survived the stabbing in 1993 by a crazed fan of Steffi Graf and losing her beloved father to cancer, Monica realized she was seeking solace in food to a point that it was controlling her life. Instead, she took control and made changes.

Her talk won the hearts of all in the room. From telling of how “peanut butter became my best friend at the age of 13” to the cruelty of the media focusing on her weight instead of her winning tournaments following the stabbing to her admission that she “developed self hatred” during her nine years of binge eating, Monica spoke to the group like a friend one-on-one. My, how she won the crowd over.

And what a crowd it was. Nancy C. Rogers (pictured center with Olivia Kearney and Kris Johnson, right), who was the Grand Slam Sponsor, arrived just as the group was sitting down. Whew!. . . Another late arrival was former Mayor Laura Miller who dashed in just as the lights were dimmed and was amazed at how large the event had grown in just five years. . . Luncheon chair Anne Besser for a second year in a row took a bow and rightly so. . . Dallas Children’s Theater’s Linda Daugherty and Elisa Project Board Chair Colleen Trabold graciously thanked one and all for presenting them with the Star of Hope Award. . . ABC Channel 8’s Gloria Campos decided not to wear her gorgeous scarf to the podium. Too bad. It was a knockout. . .Writer/director Darryl Roberts (pictured) revealed that next month he will start shooting a followup to America the Beautiful, a documentary that questioned “Does America have an unhealthy obsession with beauty?” Darryl plans to include more material on men in this one and provide more solutions to the issues presented in America the Beautiful. He’s hoping to have it ready for the Maui Film Festival next fall. And who knows? He might be back in Dallas to shoot some footage.

It’s interesting to note that this year Elisa McCall would have been 33 years old and Monica is 35. Why do we suspect they would have really like each other? They taught so many a “life lesson.”