Susan and Brad Stillman grew concerned following their son Benjamin’s birth in September 1998. He was fussy and congested, had difficulty breastfeeding and didn’t take to the bottle.
It is a proud and glorious week as Israel, her 7.2 million citizens and millions of friends around the world celebrate the 60th anniversary of Israel\’s birth as a modern, democratic nation.
Carol Kirsch is among the 5 percent to 10 percent of individuals with early onset Alzheimer\’s, those who develop symptoms before the age of 65. And she is one of the growing number who are being diagnosed at an early stage of the disease.
When Michael Margolis was 4, his doctor took his parents aside and told them he had a rare disorder called Type I Gaucher Disease. The disease, which strikes Ashkenazi Jews seven times more often than the general population, is a genetic disorder that robs patients of an enzyme that prevents a buildup of fatty tissues in the body.
The upfsherin (hair cutting ceremony) took place on the last day of Shevat — an auspicious time for a healing ritual. The day before Rosh Chodesh (first day of the month) is observed, in the medieval mystical practice of Yom Kippur katan (little Yom Kippur) — a day for cleansing, purification, and preparation — just what shaving my head represented, as I began my fifth week of chemotherapy.
Gaucher Disease is a rare, inherited disease caused by a hereditary deficiency of a single essential enzyme, glucocerebrosidase, according to the National Gaucher Foundation (NGF).
Gaucher is sufficiently rare that many doctors weren\’t and still aren\’t aware of it. And when LaBelle was diagnosed, \”they were just doing research, and there was not a glimmer of hope\” for a treatment, she said
George Smith hates to lose. A Harvard Business School graduate, Smith founded one of Southern California\’s largest, most prominent real estate investment banking firms and will receive an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University next week. Still, he smarts a little from a grievance endured at Hamilton High more than 50 years ago.
\”I graduated second in my class to a home economics major,\” said the 70-year-old real estate guru and father of four. \”She had one B in three years and I had two. My physics teacher graded me at a different level than anyone else because she knew I was going on to Cal Tech.\”
He holds no grudge. And this small injustice would help to fuel rather than blunt his drive to succeed, which has served Smith well in building a firm that exceeded $2 billion in commercial financing last year. He never imagined that he\’d also apply this indomitable will another way: in a fight to save his daughter\’s life.
Becca Smith was 5 years old in 1983 when she was diagnosed with Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T), a rare, progressively degenerative neurological disease for which there is no cure. Children with A-T have difficulty walking and with balance, and are more susceptible to infection and certain cancers. Smith and his wife, Pam, were told that Becca was unlikely to reach her 20th birthday.
Nancy Kearson knew she had high blood pressure, but she wasn\’t aware of any other health problems until a friend urged her to see a physician four years ago. That exam may have saved her life.
Twice in the past couple of days, I\’ve been in conversation and found myself grasping for a word. On both occasions, my 4-year-old supplied the word before I could come up with it. And, of course, there are the times that I walk into a room only to realize that I have no idea what I wanted to do once I got there. Are these natural lapses or early signs of something more sinister?
\”We are all one day closer to Alzheimer\’s disease,\” Dr. Gary Small says forebodingly in his book \”The Memory Bible: An Innovative Strategy for Keeping Your Brain Young\” (Hyperion, 2003). \”Alzheimer\’s and dementia begin forming in our brains much earlier than anyone previously imagined, even in our 20s.\”
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