Nurse with sickle cell disease joins clinical trial and finds new energy

Courtney Saenz reported on the following story about Dorcus Osho, RN and Dr. Idowu (pictured above).

"Osho recalls her childhood as being limited, surrounded by her parents and teachers who would take extensive precautions to prevent triggers of pain and keep her safe. She regularly visited the hospital for countless blood transfusions and for treatment of infections that routinely impacted her."

“It was soul-crushing, because I couldn’t partake in sports or run as fast as the other kids. I was told not to do anything that involved physical activity,” Osho said.

Transitioning from children’s care to adult care was difficult for Osho while attending college. She made it her goal to find a doctor who was actively researching new ways to treat sickle cell disease in patients. While working as a nurse, she cared for a man who had the same condition and he recommended Modupe Idowu, MD, a hematologist at UTHealth Houston and medical director of the UT Physicians Adult Sickle Cell Center, which provides care for patients living with sickle cell disease.

“When I transferred to Dr. Idowu at UT Physicians, it was like I saw the light again,” Osho said.

"Under Idowu’s care, Osho joined a Phase II clinical drug trial that is researching a hemoglobin S polymerization inhibitor drug called GBT021601. The next-generation inhibitor drug is intended to bind hemoglobin, an oxygen-transport protein, to help red blood cells hold on to more oxygen to keep their shape stable and prevent them from collapsing into a sickle form."

To learn more about the clinical trial visit: At the Bedside: Nurse with sickle cell disease joins clinical drug trial and finds energy she’s never had before - UTHealth Houston

Cheers!

Donna

Emily Katy discovers she is autistic at 16 years old and later becomes a nurse

 

Amazon.com states, "To the outside world, Emily looks like a typical girl, with a normal family, living an ordinary life. But inside, Emily does not feel typical, and the older she gets, the more she realises that she is different. As she finally discovers when she is 16, Emily is autistic. Girl Unmasked is the extraordinary story of how she got there - and how she very nearly didn't.

Still only 21, Emily writes with startling candour about the years leading up to her diagnosis. How books and imagination became her refuge as she sought to escape the increasing anxiety and unbearable stresses of school life; how her OCD almost destroyed her; how a system which did not understand autism let her down; and how she came so close to the edge that she and her family thought she would never survive.

In this simple but powerful memoir, we see how family and friends became her lifeline and how, post-diagnosis, Emily came to understand her authentic self and begin to turn her life around, eventually becoming a mental health nurse with a desire to help others where she herself had once been failed."

Read more at: https://amzn.to/3VBgtgA

Cheers!

Donna

Lessons from a school nurse with diabetes and limb loss

 

Lakeisha Jacobs, RN shared her story in an article for "Living with Amplitude".

"I was always an overweight child, weighing 280 pounds when I was only 11. I had respiratory problems and was not as active as I should have been. And my brother and I grew up poor in a single mother’s household, so we ate only what we could afford. That included too many carbohydrates and sugary drinks."  

"Before I reached my 12th birthday, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I can remember the doctors actually scratching their heads. Back then, it was uncommon for anyone under 40 years old to receive this diagnosis. And I was just a child! Maybe this is why they did not aggressively push me to improve my diet and get more exercise. I was such a rare case, they didn’t know what to do with me."  

"My own school nurses didn’t know what to do with me, either. Instead of teaching me about nutrition and fitness, most attempted to put me on harsh, restrictive diets. They seemed to want to punish me for my weight, rather than teach me a healthier lifestyle. I was constantly told I was too fat. These cruel words came from the mouths not only of nurses but also teachers, doctors, and especially my peers. Instead of steering me toward better choices, their criticism just made me feel lonely, which pushed me toward the wrong foods for comfort."  

Read more of Lakeisha Jacobs' story at:

https://livingwithamplitude.com/article/diabetes-education-limb-loss-lakeisha-jacobs/

Cheers!

Donna