Currently Browsing: News
“Not just another day off.”
.
Written by Joel Macklin, The Eagle Editor
Monday, January 16, 2012 is not just another day we have off of school, but a day where we celebrate the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. MLK Jr. Day does not fall on his actual birthday or his death date but it is every third Monday in January. Although Dr. King was a black man who struggled to bring rights to his fellow African Americans, he was really leading the Civil Rights Movement that not only represented African Americans but also other ethnicities.
As a relatively new holiday, MLK Day doesn’t have many traditions except for a nationwide feeling of promoting equal rights for all Americans. MLK Day is sometimes combined with Civil Rights Day, which is celebrated in New Hampshire and Arizona, but with the same messages and objectives. Instead of lying around or being unproductive, you should go out and realize what MLK Day is all about and be active in helping others like doing some community service.
For those of you who don’t know who Martin Luther King Jr. was, he was an African American man that helped lead and propel the Civil Rights Movement. Our general public has now been desegregated, in most areas, and now allows more opportunities for future generations of ethnic races. Thanks to Dr.King and many other Civil Rights activists, we can now live in a better world. Unfortunately, Dr.King. was assassinated in 1968 by an angry white sniper.
Email This Post
Print This Post
Currently Browsing: News
The true meaning of “life is unfair”
Photo Credit: courtesy of Suzie Berry
.
Written by Rachael Zielmanski, The Eagle Staff Reporter
Editor’s note: The personal experience of Obama teacher Mrs.Berry is below and a must read
Spinal muscular atrophy, also known as SMA, is a neuromuscular disease. It results in a progressive muscular atrophy (wasting away) and or weakness. The spectrum of SMA ranges between early infant deaths to mild weakness in almost normal adulthood. SMA patients often require comprehensive medical care. This can involve pediatric pulmonology, neurology, orthopedic surgery, low extremity, and spinal orthotics, to name a few.
The juvenile version of this is referred to as Kugellberg – Welande Syndrome. But in all forms of SMA, its main feature is muscle weakness. This is a result of denervatioin or loss of the signal to contract that is transmitted from the spinal cord to muscle via motor neurons axon. The features of the disease are strongly related to its severity and age onset.
SMA is caused by mutation of the SMN gene. There is a large range from fatal to trivial, and infant to adults, with different affected individuals manifesting every shade of importance between the two extremes. Many SMA students’ symptoms relate to secondary complications of muscle weakness. Of all forms of SMA, Infantile SMA is the most severe.
Some symptoms of Infantile SMA include muscle weakness, weak cry , weak cough, bell-shaped torso, legs lying in a “frog leg” position, feeding position, bowel/bladder weakness, and lower than normal weight. In order to be diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy symptoms must be present,
In most SMA cases, diagnosis can be made by an SMN gene test that determines that at least one SMN1 gene is present. This can be seen by looking for its unique sequences that defines it from its almost identical SMN2 gene in axons 7 and 8. In some cases the SMN gene test is not possible. In these cases other tests are used.
The most common form of SMA is caused by mutations of the SMN gene and manifests over the large range of severity affecting infants through adults. The SMN gene is found on chrosome 5 and the affected gene is called “SMN1” addition to the other forms of SMA there a lot of other forms.
There are treatments for Spinal Muscular Atrophy available. Some use aggressive technology such as ventilators, power wheelchairs, and modified access to computers. There are also drug treatments possible including Butyrate, Valprocid, hydroxyurea, riluzole, and quinazoline495 (6). Ventilation is important. Infants with the severe forms of SMA frequently succumb to restpatory disease.
One Family’s Story—By Mrs.Berry, 8th grade math teacher
My nephew, John Sullivan Rossmiller (AKA “Sully”) has SMA Type 1. He was diagnosed when he was about 4 months old and his parents and pediatrician worried that he had not yet begun to lift his head. At the time they were told that it was unlikely that he would live to see the age of two, as SMA 1 is the most aggressive form of this genetic disorder. It was explained extremely that he would never walk, talk, and eventually would lose the ability to swallow and breathe on his own.
Of course this was devastating for my brother, John, and his wife, Cherise. They began a whirl wind tour of doctors, specialists and trips to the children’s hospital inAtlanta,GA, about two hours from my brother’s army base inColumbia.
At about 6 months of age Sully lost the ability to swallow and was fitted with a GI tube in his stomach so that he would not choke to death on his own food. Even with that, however, there was and is always the danger that he will aspirate (choke) on his own saliva or mucus secretions – a constant worry for a child when they begin to teethe! In those short few months his parents watched as he lost the ability to kick, turn his head, or even smile as widely as he used to.
For the first 9 months of his life, Sully was in and out of the hospital almost constantly for breathing difficulties or surgery. There was always the danger that a simple childhood cold would turn into pneumonia, which Sully’s compromised respiratory system could never handle. When he was a little over a year (a big milestone!) he was fitted with a trach and he now breaths with a ventilator.
When I visited my brother in August, I got to see first-hand the daily struggles and crises that he and his wife have to deal with. Sully requires daily breathing and cough treatments (unlike most of us, he can’t clear his throat or lungs – most people don’t realize how often they do that during a day!). His parents and nurses have to be vigilant in checking his oxygen and heart rate to catch any kind of sign that might mean he is having trouble breathing or choking.
We decided, one evening, to go out to dinner and leave Sully in the care of his nurse – something my brother and his wife hadn’t done since Sully was born. As we were on our way, about 20 minutes out, the nurse called to say that Sully was in “crisis mode” and she was calling the EMT’s. The 10 minutes that it took for my brother to drive, Jason Bourne style, through the highways and back roads ofAlabamaback to his home were the most intense of my life – watching my brother’s concern and listening to my sister-in-law crying into the phone, “Don’t you let them take my baby!” – the truth is that most hospitals and EMT’s, except in the most metropolitan of areas, do not know how to care for SMA babies. My brother sprinted up his driveway, now blocked by ambulances and fire trucks, into his home, pushed medical personnel out of his way, and took over emergency care for his son, now ashen and gray. Within a few moments he had suctioned and resuscitated Sully. My brother may be an Army Ranger who jumps out of planes and fights inAfghanistanin “real” life, but it was at that moment that I knew he was Superman.
But, this is what it’s like for a family that lives with SMA, and especially SMA 1. Sully is doing really well now. My brother’s army buddies gave him a gift of an IPad in August and he is learning to use it to watch videos. He can still move his hands up and down slightly if someone holds his wrist, and my sister-in-law reported yesterday that he was coloring with a marker and was really amazed with himself! He was fitted with a wheelchair recently and has been going on walks with his Dad and loves it when my brother lets the wheelchair race down the driveway.
Sully will turn two in April, and we are looking forward to a time when his family will be able to outfit a van to suit his needs and travel north to visit his aunts and uncles. My brother is now looking into computer programs that operate based on eye movements or brain waves (a lot of this technology is still in its infancy, though). When I talk to my brother and his wife, though, what they want most, aside from a happy life for Sully and his new baby brother, Max, is for people to be aware of what SMA is and to help others who might not have access to the health care and equipment that has made Sully’s life longer and more enjoyable. 1 in 40 people carry the SMA gene and yet there are many people, and even doctors, who have never heard of the disorder. If you’d like to learn more Families of SMA has a facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/familiesofsma
And my brother and his wife recently started a page for Sully http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/profile.php?id=100003341535686
Email This Post
Print This Post
Currently Browsing: Sports
Wrestling team knocks off Oliver, 50-15
Photo Credit: Shelby Campbell
.
Written by Shelby Campbell, The Eagle Executive Editor
On January 11, the Oliver and Obama wrestling teams went head to head. The opponents were introduced and the ref started them off. The new up and coming wrestler for Obama just barely lost by one point to the Oliver opponent, however the next three weight categories were all wins. The fourth category was also unfortunately a loss but Obama was leading in overall score. The very last category was won by a pin within aproximately 19 seconds by D’Andre Caviness. This win propelled Obama to a blow out win of 50-15 points.
After the match and the pleasantries of shaking hands with the other team were finished Coach Roa gave a few comments about how his team did. “Overall I felt that they did very well, but I wish that Donald hadn’t hesitated” in the first match, he also said that he was very pleased with how well D’Andre did in the last category.
Congratualations to the wrestling team for a great win!
Email This Post
Print This Post
Currently Browsing: News
Health alert: Stress is trouble at any age
.
Written by Sarah Parker, The Eagle Staff Writer
“As children we begin to adapt to our environment and learn things from it. If a child has a pervasive sense of adversity in his or her childhood for whatever reason, the brain responds to that kind of hardship by becoming more sensitive to stress. It gets hard-wired to react much more strongly than someone else who didn’t experience a lot of turmoil. So, to some extent, you will always have an elevated level of stress’, said Dr. Rajita Sinha., director of theYale Stress Center.
Parent’s conflict, physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, witnessing violence, loss of a parent, dealing with a parent who has mental illness or addiction, bullying, and sometimes divorce can cause this elevation of stress that will never be cured. When these things happen to us during our growth and development, our stress pathway system hasn’t developed yet, and isn’t able to adapt to the stress level.
In addition, higher stress levels can lead to serious diseases, disorders, and addictions. The best way for a child to have a healthy stress pathway is to have a strong family, social support, good education, and thinking abstractly, and personality-shaping optimism and emotional self-regulation. “Things happen”, Dr. Sinha said “Families will face adversities. But if parents, teachers, and other adults are helping to guide children by talking about the trauma and providing them with adaptive skills, then those children will be more inclined toward protection and resilience, as opposed to rise.”
Children are most vulnerable in their adolescent years, because they start to draw away from their parents or guardians and isolating themselves.
Email This Post
Print This Post
Currently Browsing: In-Depth
Poetry Corner: Sabria Mitchell–I will always love you
.
Written by Sabria Mitchell, The Eagle Staff Poet
I will always love you
I wonder if you’re happy
Wherever you may be
Depressed is what I’m feeling now
Cause you’re not here with me
The memories we had
Will never disappear
I want you standing by my side
I want you always near
I just don’t understand
You said you’d never leave
And then I turn around
And there is nothing but a breeze
That chills me till this day
What is it I can do?
Just please keep in your heart
That I will always love you
Email This Post
Print This Post
Currently Browsing: Sports
Lady Eagle rebound, beat Perry
Photo Credit: Cathy Pierotti
.
Written by Cathy Pierotti and La'Nia Latimer, The Eagle Staff Writers
On January 10th, the Lady Eagles played in a very aggressive game against Perry, but in the end the Lady Eagles truly showed their spirit by beating Perry 45-41. During the second half, the performance by the Lady Eagles began to increase, and the intensity between both teams was strong. After the game we were able to interview Alex Bowen and Karla Reed to find out what they thought about this aggressive game.
Q: How do you think your teammates did tonight?
Bowen: We all stepped up. Our star player received a fowl so we worked harder.
Reed: I think we did excellent. We all worked hard, and played as a team.
Q: Do you have a strong bond with the team?
Bowen: Yes, we are to the point where we can be honest about each other’s skills, and what we need to improve on as a team.
Q: Do you think this game was more aggressive than others?
Reed: This was aggressive, but Allderdice was more aggressive than this game.
Q: What is your personal focus point for this season?
Bowen: For the team, just being able to make a name forObamaAcademy, but for myself I want improve my turn-over’s.
Reed: This season, my focus point is getting to the playoffs, and then the championships.
Q: Is there anything you need to improve on?
Bowen: I want to improve my dribbling, and making more shots.
Reed: Just making the skills better every time; during practice and at games.
Q: As a player, how do think you did tonight?
Bowen: We started off slow, but when we had gotten behind we began to speed up our pace and teamwork.
Reed: We all did well tonight. We worked together, as a team, and played together well.
With this game, the Lady Eagles improved their skills and teamwork. Their next game will be at Carrick at 4:00 on January 13th, 2012.
Email This Post
Print This Post
