February 20th, 2009 at 4:18 pm by Stephanie Harris under Health
That’s it, I’m packing my bags and moving to the country. I just read a new study that says the more fast food restaurants in your area the more people are overweight and at risk for all sorts of obesity related conditions like heart disease, diabetes and I’m sure high cholesterol ….and so on and so on.
Still, unless I work in a rural area as well I’ll have to drive past all those fast food spots on my way home at night and since it’ll take me longer to get home I’ll probably be more hungry when I get there. Do this a few times and I’ll probably stop and grab something on my way to tide me over. Of course I could order a salad or yogurt but when I smell french fries I just can’t resist!
So, wait a minute. Maybe I should rethink this. It appears, in my case, I would probably eat more fast food if I moved away from them. Oh well, in this economy I couldn’t sell my house anyway.
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:18 pm by Stephanie Harris under Health
This close to Valentine’s Day you may think I am soliciting candy and flowers but actually I’m talking about real hearts or kidneys, livers, etc. This week I reported on two men with liver diseases who needed transplants. One got one. The other is still waiting. I am amazed at how many people emailed me and called Ten On Your Side after watching. So many wanted to help. At the same time so many others called because they have a loved one waiting for an organ as well. Can you imagine what it must be like to watch someone you love slowly dying and knowing that a living donor could save his/her life. That’s right, in the case of a kidney or liver transplant living people can donate. If you’re healthy do you really need two kidneys? Seriously though, if you have the power to save a life you should consider it. You never know when it might be you or your loved one who needs it.
October 30th, 2008 at 2:50 pm by Stephanie Harris under Health
Journalists are supposed to be unbiased. In order to be fair and impartial we tend to keep people at a safe distance. There are however when no matter how hard you try to stay detached the wall comes down and so do the tears.
I first met Kevin Eadie three and a half years ago as he was about to graduate 5th grade. Kevin’s Mother contacted me and asked if WAVY would be interested in doing a story about the rare disease, Nieman Pick Type C, that was slowly breaking down his body. We watched Kevin roll his walker down the aisle to pick up his diploma and then he proudly told me, in slurred speech, that he was the ‘bat boy’ for the Peninsula Pilots baseball team. Kevin, I found out lived for baseball. Little did I know then that my own two sons, then just three years old and the other not yet a year old, would also become obsessed with the sport.Perhaps that is why my most recent visit with Kevin’s Mom was so difficult.
Brenda Eadie emailed me this week asking if we could do a story to let people know about a fundraiser to help with his medical bills and for research to end this horrible disease.
Brenda told me of the many procedures, incidents, surgeries and many many hospitalizations he had over the last 3 years. He never was able to return to school. Just this month he’s been admitted to the hospital twice. Both times with extensive muscle pain and rigidity which resulted in him severing his main artery on the bottom of his tongue and both times causing his left lung to collapse, resulting in being on a ventilator.
Brenda wrote “It as the cruelest of illnesses. I have watched this disease take Kevin away bits and pieces at a time. Although I have done everything humanly possible to help him beat this horrible disease and find a cure .. it hasn’t happened. So I have felt and FEEL so helpless. Baseball has been a miracle for Kevin. So in baseball terms ‘We are near the end of the season’. Kevin watched one more World Series game this evening from his hospital bed while on a ventilator and with sedation. I know he could hear it on the remote speaker on his bed next to his ear and he felt that MAGIC of the game he loves one more time while knowing he is loved tremendously. “
Are you crying with me now? I went to see Brenda in the hospital and aired a report on Kevin and the fundraiser hoping it may help in some small way. Meanwhile I left feeling lucky and a little bit guilty. Kevin’s dream of being a pro-baseball player were never realistic and while my son’s dreams of playing pro may not be realistic either at least they have the opportunity. Kevin never even had that. So this Saturday as I’m sitting on a hard and likely damp bleacher seat at the ball field, shivering in the wind, I will thank God that I am there and not in a hospital room. There is magic in baseball. Kevin taught me that.
September 29th, 2008 at 4:12 pm by Jane Alvarez-Wertz under Health
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