Hydroxyurea Shows Great Benefits in Babies

Posted on August 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Over the past few months I have been writing articles about Sickle Cell Disease and the impact it has in the United States and across the globe. My Multimedia piece, Hydroxyurea: The Best Choice to Treat Sickle Cell Disease took a look at the medication and focused mainly on treating adults with Sickle Cell Disease. In it’s early days the medication was only prescribed to adults due to the strength of Hydroxyurea.

Hydroxyurea for Babies


Previously I introduced you to Miralda Charles, a Community Health Worker for the Sickle Cell Program at the Valerie Fund in Newark, New Jersey. She says they have 300 to 400 children with Sickle Cell Disease and 45 taking Hydroxyurea. The medication is more commonly being given to younger and younger kids with Sickle Cell Disease because of its benefits says, Charles.

Hydroxyurea is a medication that promises to help ease the pain caused by the disease. According to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the medication helps the red blood cells stay round and flexible allowing them to easily travel through the blood vessels. The site goes on to say the medication increases the amount of fetal hemoglobin in the red blood cells. Fetal hemoglobin helps protect newborns from having complications in the first few months of life says, St. Jude. Treating babies with Hydroxyurea takes on a completely different approach; the medication is given in a liquid form and in smaller doses according to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Research done at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital suggest babies and young children taking the medication may prevent the Hemoglobin F levels from falling and protect the red blood cells from sickling. The clinical trial was called Hydroxyurea Safety and Organ Toxicity (HUSOFT) study. The study was done over a six year time period to show the medication is safe and effective in babies according to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

For more information about the Valerie Fund and to donate you can visit TheValerieFund.org.

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Posted in Health

Hydroxyurea: The Best Choice to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

Posted on July 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

Sickle Cell is a chronic Disease that can take control of your life. If you had to choose living a life with little to no pain or living in and out of the emergency room, what would you do? Hydroxyurea is promising to allow Sickle Cell suffers to live a long health life and I’ll explain why, if you have Sickle Cell Disease the drug can be life changing.

Sickle Cell Anemia is the a inherited blood disorder where the red blood cells change from a doughnut shape to a “sickle shape” that’s according to The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. The sickle cells block blood flow and can cause pain, which many people call a “crisis,” serious infections, and organ damage. Hydroxyurea is the only drug proven to help increase the life expectancy of people living with the disease according to, “. The drug isn’t with complications but knowing all the facts will help you make an informed choice.

Hydroxyurea has been proven to help children and adults with sickle cell disease,” according to Saint Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. With little to no treatment options for patients the drug is allowing patients to live life outside of the emergency room. The drug is not a cure for the disease and may not be for everyone. Take of look at how one woman’s life has changed since taking the medication and find out if Hydroxyurea is right for you.

Many patients will experience the anemia aspect of the disease. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, “Anemia is a condition in which your blood has a lower than normal number of red blood cells.” The site goes on to say if you have anemia you can fell tried and even experience, shortness or breath, dizziness and or headaches. Take a look at how the red blood cells work and what causes patients to feel anemic.

Sickle Cell trait means you’re a carry of Sickle Cell Disease according to The American Journal of Medicine. And with nearly 300 million people worldwide are carrying the disease. Educating people about their status is one of the most important keys to stopping the spread of the disease. Click on the YouTube video below to learn more about Sickle Cell Trait.

The map below shows the prevalence of Sickle Cell Disease across the globe.

www.stjude.org/sicklecell

For more information take a look at a time-line The Sickle Cell Association of Ontario has put together. The time-line takes a look at “The Evolution of Sickle Cell.” If you’d like to do more in your community to help raise awareness about Sickle Cell Disease you can go to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America for more information.

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Posted in Health

Sickle Cell Transition Workshop

Posted on June 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

Making glass beads

Group participating in recent workshop


The Sickle Cell team at Barnabas Health is proud to host a Transition Workshop. This event is for Sickle Cell Patients ages 13 to 17. Come learn the art of glass beading and get some education on Sickle Cell Disease that will help you ease into adulthood. Transition is defined as, “The period of time during which something changes from one state or stage to another. Glassroots was recently seen on Secret Millionaire on ABC check out the full story of this amazing place.

WHEN: Saturday, July 14th 10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE: 10 Bleeker St. Newark, NJ 07102
Cost: Free
RSVP: On Eventbrite Or Call 973-926-8243
You must RSVP by Friday, July 13th

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Posted in Health

Rainbow Cake

Posted on June 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

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Posted in In the Kitchen, Uncategorized

Technorati Claim

Posted on June 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

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Posted in Uncategorized

Be the Match and Save a Life

Posted on June 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

Want to find a way to give? How about giving someone the gift of a healthy long life. According to the National Marrow Donor Program, “Right now 10,000 patients need a marrow transplant. Only half receive one.”

Makeda is looking for a donor

Makeda Reid has been living with Sickle Cell Disease all 30 years of her life. Over the past few years her Sickle Cell pain has reached a severe level and sometimes even near death.
Sickle Cell Anemia is the a inherited blood disorder where the red blood cells change from a doughnut shape to a “sickle shape” according to The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. The sickled cells are stiff and sticky, blocking blood flow to limbs and organs. Blocked blood flow can cause unbearable pain that is primarily treated by pain medication. But there is a cure to this inherited blood disorder. A bone marrow transplant has been and can be done to cure people suffering severely from the disease. Bone marrow “is the substance in the center of your bones that produces red blood cells,” according to WebMD. Makeda recently went to Hackensack Medical Center for a consultation with her family. The mother of one says she’s ready to regain control of her life to live a long healthy one for her daughter.
So you may be asking what can I do to help? There are so many ways you can; with monthly contributions, through your IRA or obviously getting swabbed to see if you’re a match.

Swab kit used to find a match


100 percent of your gift to Be The Match Foundation goes directly to helping patients with uninsured transplant costs, funding medical research and adding donors to the registry. Even rapper “50 Cent” is on the Bone Marrow Registry. Check out the star getting a swab test back in 2010. Reid says, “even if I don’t find a match its ok, but if more people get tested they could be a match for someone else in need.” For more ways to give go Marrow.org

50 Cent swabbed to see if he is a match

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Posted in Health, Uncategorized

Bitter Notes of Copyright Infringement

Posted on May 20, 2012 | 1 Comment

Music transcends culture and language barriers, but an artists’ love for music could land them in hot water. Music copyright is a major issue in the industry, according to Legaljungleguide.com, “Think of a copyright as a bundle of exclusive rights. The exclusivity means that only you as the copyright owner may exercise those rights in your music, or authorize others to exercise them.” Dana Holland has been singing for years and with a family full of stars that include Tisha Campbell-Martin, Holland says, “I am fortunate to have them in my life for guidance in the industry.”

Holland says she likes to write and produce her own songs and is currently working with several people to hone her craft. “It’s all about being original and not flowing in the footsteps of other pop stars,” says Holland. She goes on to say, “Originality is the key to success and allows an artist to grow and have a say in their career.” Check out some pictures of Dana performing recently at and open mic night in Newark, New Jersey.

Newark, NJ

Newark, NJ

With the ever-changing world of the World Wide Web, the issues of copyright infringement peaked in the early 2000’s. The New York Times looked at this issue in 2003 with the rise of Napster, which the article claims was the first popular file-sharing network. The article goes on to say, “millions of people have traded copyrighted music on the Internet without paying for it.”

In 2006 Universal Music Group filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Myspace, according to a New York Times article. The article claimed Myspace, a popular social media website, was allowing users to upload and download songs and music videos. The article quotes several people who didn’t believe they were doing anything wrong by downloading their favorite song or artist and burning the music to a CD.

Vanilla Ice was literally “under pressure” with his first hit in the early 90’s Ice Ice Baby. Check out an MTV interview with the then rising rap star about speculation he had stolen the beat from Queen’s hit song Under Pressure.

According to Legaljungleguide.com it’s easy to copyright music. The site claims, “You have a valid copyright as soon as your original song or sound recording is fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” The site goes on to say your music is copy written once your song or sound is written down or recorded. To be on the safe side, it recommends you should register your original work with U.S. Copyright Office to protect yourself from copyright infringement. The site claims, “You don’t need to register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office in order to have a valid copyright.”

As for Dana, she says the future looks bright for her and the band and says, “We plan on keeping it original and copyright friendly.”

Open Mic Night


Check out some famous copyright lawsuits in the music industry.

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Posted in Economy

Final Moments of Pop Diva Could Lead to Legal Battle

Posted on May 6, 2012 | 3 Comments

Personal photos of the Queen of pop could land someone in legal trouble.
On February 11th 2012 pop diva Whitney Houston’s life came to a tragic end, the 48 year old was found submerged in the bathtub of her Beverly Hills hotel room, according to TMZ. In the weeks following her death I sat down with one of her close childhood friends Pam Hodge to talk about growing up in the small city of East Orange, New Jersey. Today Pam is dealing with the loss of a close friend and says, “Knowing that I am not going to see her here is sad.”
Whitney Houston got her start singing in church at New Hope Baptist Church says Hodge. Thanks to Clive Davis who discovered Houston in the New York Night Club in 1983 the world was able to hear Whitney’s amazing voice according to whitneyhouston.com. During her life the star often referred to as “The Voice” was put through the ringer with her personal life. Allegation of drug use and blows at her personal life shadowed the star most of her career and in 2002 she sat down with ABC’s Diane Sawyer and talked about her life at that point in time.

The biggest blow in my opinion came after her death; The National Enquirer released a picture of the mega star in her coffin. According to the Huffingtonpost.com, “the unauthorized picture shows Houston lying in a golden coffin, and wearing a purple dress.” This is why I chose to look at intrusion. According to cvc.sunysb.edu Intrusion is, “One who intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the solitude or seclusion of another or his private affairs or concerns, is subject to liability for invasion of privacy, if the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.” The person or persons responsible for taking and selling the picture to the Enquirer could and should be sued for intrusion. The picture was taken inside Whigham Funeral Home. The photo was believed to be during the families’ private funeral service one day before her televised funeral at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark. Miralda Charles a New Jersey native grew up listening to “The Voice” and says, “Her passing has been one of the biggest blows to the music industry and to know that someone would disrespect her family by sharing such a private moment with the world.”
One of the elements needed to claim intrusion is if incident caused, “mental anguish or suffering to the plaintiff,” according to citmedialaw.org. According to a Fox News poll over 100,000 readers weighed in on the National Enquirer cover. “Forty percent of FoxNews.com readers said that the Enquirer publishing the photographs was a shame, but par for the course for them. Thirty-seven percent said that it was reprehensible and 21 percent said they saw absolutely nothing wrong with it.” Even though Houston has pasted her family could file a defamation of character suit and possibly win. The only issue in this case is that the responsible party has not come forward or been discovered; only time will tell.
Pam also shared her opinion about the private picture being released, “I am glad they did it, it gave me some kind of closure.”
She also said she thinks about “Nippy” all the time and recently was at the movies and was happy to see her face on the big screen in the upcoming remake of Sparkle.

Today the crowds at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey are gone, but her voice will live in forever. Take a look at video from New Hope Baptist Church in the days following her death.

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Posted in Life, Uncategorized

Using Hydroxyurea to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

Posted on April 29, 2012 | 7 Comments

This week I was able to get great feedback about my piece on Sickle Cell Disease. 100 percent of my viewers believed more can be done in the treatment of Sickle Cell Disease. Those statistics alone speak volumes about what people know about Sickle Cell Disease and how important it is to keep putting more information out there. And also how important it is to educate patients and non-suffers of the disease. Another thing I learned from this week’s publication is that I was missing the other side of the story. Hydroxyurea is the only drug used to treat Sickle Disease according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. But the drug does have side affects according to Medicinenet.com, “Cancers have been reported with the use of this medication but it is not known if these cancers are due to the drug or the disease being treated.” Because of the feedback I also did some checking on social media to find out what other people and organizations have to say about the drug. Bristol-Myers issued new safety information about the drug that could eliminate the drug in some patients treatment plan. Check out the video they posted with the warning and how the drug should be taken.

I also left out how Hydroxyurea works. According to Children’s Hospital Vanderbilt the drug, “prevents hemoglobin S from sticking together and decreases the sickling of red blood cells.” The site does go on to say Hyrdroxyurea is not the type of drug that works in one or two doses. “The effect of Hydroxyurea will be felt after one or two months” according to Children’s Hospital Vanderbilt. Patients will begin to feel more energetic and the site claims the maximum affects of the drug should be felt in about 6 months. Check out a diagram of how Hydroxyurea works to keep red blood cells from sickling.

Children's Hospital Vanderbilt


Thanks to the great feedback without it I would have never found the great information about the side effects and more information of how the drug works in the body.

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Posted in Health, Uncategorized

Hydroxyurea should be the number one treatment for Sickle Cell Disease.

Posted on April 22, 2012 | 1 Comment

Sickle Cell is Disease is a blood disorder that turns your red blood cells into a sickle shape that’s according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The site goes on to say treatment for the disease includes over the counter pain medications and for severe pain patients can be prescribed opioids like morphine. But there is one medication that can help patients in severe in mild pain. Hydroxyurea is mainly prescribed for patients who are hospitalized 3 or more times and year according to The New England Journal of Medicine. But my hope is to prove Hydroxyurea should be prescribed for all Sickle Cell suffers to help patients’ live long and health lives.

I’d really like your feedback about the treatment of Sickle Cell Disease. Please click on the link below and Vote.

http://apps.facebook.com/opinionpolls/poll?pid=AB_IE2yLQU4

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