CLOSE UP by Brian Rudnick

Donated kidney to animal rescuer needing rescue

“WHERE IS YOUR KIDNEY?”

“Well, one of my kidneys is in North Carolina right now.”

Hillary Rettig had been reading and thinking about donating a kidney for a few years. Why not, she thought, if she had two working ones and one to spare and could save someone’s life? When she reached a tipping point, she went ahead with the laparoscopic surgery. As a vegetarian and animal lover, she was thrilled to find a match in a man who had founded a no-kill animal shelter. On a matchmaking website, among the many heart-braking posts of people pleading for a donated kidney, the man had written, “ I have spent the last twenty years giving animals a second chance at life; won’t you consider giving me a second chance?” Afterwards, the donee’s wife told Retting that Rettig had saved not just her husband, but their family as well.  Rettig recommends donating a kidney to everyone. “ It’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling… If I had a few extra kidneys, I would donate them all.” Watch video interview here. Read Rettig's account of her donation here.

Paintings inspired by neurons

Kirsten Fischler captures neuronal imagery in her paintings. She has been inspired by her partner, a neuropathologist. Neurons are nerve cells that communicate information electrically/chemically with other cells. In her artist’s conception neurons are the “essence that occurs inside the mind that helps develop the mind” or “the spark that makes the mind happen.” Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, Francisville. Watch video interview here.

Losing the sense of smell

A young woman who realized in college that, without a doubt she wanted to become a chef, grabbed the offer to start as the dishwasher in a famous Boston restaurant and she loved it, covered in butter, chicken fat, sweat. One morning, on a morning jog before work, she was hit by a car and among other bad injuries, had shattered her skull. Two weeks later, making a recovery at her father's house, she made a bad discovery - her sense of smell was gone. Heat was all she sensed of the cinammon-laced apple crisp, a favorite dish, when it was just drawn from the oven and held under her nose.

Birnbaum went on to study the sense of smell and her experiences with its loss(a condition called "anosmia") and wrote about in her 2011 book,"Season to Taste." Along her journey she spent much time with the olfactory scientists the Monell Chemical Senses Center with whom she presented "Forgotten Sense: Exploring a World Without Smell" as part of the Philadlephia Science Festival.

Also attending the event is a doctoral student in information sciences at Drexel University, (shown below) who speaks about her own experience with anosmia.

At the National Mechanics Bar and Restaurant in Old City, Philadelphia.

Watch video here.

How would pro-life student regulate abortion?

A student who attends a Christian high school describes himself as "pro-life" and ponders how he would regulate abortion.

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I had off because I didn’t have a midterm test at school. I came in to work, 10:30 and after I’ll go sit down somewhere and study for the exam. WHAT’S THE EXAM ON? History, U. S. History. AND THIS IS AT..? Philmont Christian. AND WHAT ERA OF U.S. HISTORY DO YOU HAVE TO KNOW TODAY? It actually goes from the creation of the Constitution to modern day so we learn about cases and amendments, that stuff. DO YOU TALK ABOUT ROE V. WADE IN AMERICAN HISTORY CLASS? Yeah that’s one of the cases. WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT THAT DECISION? Which one is that, again? THE ROE V WADE RIGHT TO ABORTION DECISION? I’m definitely pro-life. I’m against abortion. A small percent of circumstances like rape and stuff like that obviously is really tough, a tough call but I think that even if someone isn’t born, the life is still important. HOW DO YOU BELIEVE THAT SHOULD BE REGULATED? It’s tough to say. I’m not sure, yeah, I’m not sure. Brett Steiger of Abington, Cedars Café, Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Watch video here.

Was near death, now teaches balance, Tai Chi and shenanigans

I am the only child or Roscoe and Virginia Pauline Warner… HOW DID YOU GET INTO PHYSICAL THERAPY? Football injury in high school. Then I went to Shepherd University played four years as starting center at Shepherd. So if I messed up, everybody knew it and the play was toast.  ARE YOU STILL ACTIVE ATHLETICALLY OR SPORTS-WISE? Keystone Senior Games. I did ten events. Shot-put, discus, hammer throw, foul shooting, badminton, tennis, swimming…. March first I will be seven decades. But I was getting all ready last summer and I just didn’t feel right. And in February my intestines blew. And so I went from playing tennis to emergency surgery. Eight days of induced coma. During the coma (I’m sure it was sometime there) I went, ‘God, are you sure you got the right guy?’ And he didn’t answer. And then he came back in and He says, ‘George, I will take you home some day but I got some things for you to do.’ ‘God, please tell me it’s a long list.’ During that time I felt no fear, anxiety and it’s true. I think they did shift work between God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit- you know, around the clock. And the surgeons told my wife, ‘There’s no way he’s going to survive this’ because I had pneumonia, peritonitis …and it wasn’t to be my time. So since that time I teach a class once a week- balance, flexibility, isometrics, tai chi and shenanigans.  And I do it for free. CAN YOU SHOW US A SHENANIGAN?  Do you want my wife to really do me in? [To his wife] Young lady, do you know what a shenanigan is? George Warner of Hershey, PA spending New Year’s in Carlisle, PA.

Watch video interview here.

 

 

Med student preps for exam

Divya Arun, of Roxborough, a 3rd year medical student at Drexel University, studies the clinical manifestations of diseases at Chestnut Hill Coffee cafe in preparation for an oral exam.

I SEE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING SET UP HERE, YOUR DRINKS YOUR BANANA, YOUR BOOK, YOUR NOTEBOOKS, YOUR PEN. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON? I’m actually in medical school. We have an oral exam coming up Thursday so I ‘m preparing for that. I have to pick fifteen different medical topics and know ever thing about them. And they’ll randomly ask me questions about the topics so I have to prepare the clinical manifestations of diseases and things like that. WHAT AREA IN MEDICINE ARE YOU INTERESTED IN? I’m not sure, Third year we go through the different specialties like medicine, pediatrics, ob-gyn, surgery, psychiatry, family medicine and you kind of decide from there. That’s what this year is about and I haven’t figured it out yet. DO YOU HAVE AN IDEA WHAT SETTING YOU WANT TO PRACTICE, WHETHER CLINICAL OR RESEARCH..? Definitely clinical probably not research although I’ll have research integrated in whatever I do but not totally research. WHAT INTERESTS YOU IN THE FIELD? It’s constantly changing, you work with people day in and day out. You get to help them most of the time. It’s pretty rewarding, feeling you’re doing something productive every day. CAN YOU THINK OF AN INSTANCE WHERE YOU FELT GRATIFIED HELPING SOMEONE? I volunteered last year at the Eliza Shirley Clinic which is a domestic violence shelter for women and their children who are abused and have nowhere else to go and I felt that was pretty rewarding. We had a student run clinic and you just see whoever wants to be seen with one of the doctors from Drexel who comes. WHAT KIND OF MEDICAL ISSUES DO THEY PRESENT WITH? They present with the gamut. We see the adults on the adult clinic day and the “Peeds clinic”, the pediatricians come in. Lots of colds, lots of gyn-related problems, really anything. AND YOU’RE STUDYING WHERE? Drexel University School of Medicine. AND THIS IS YOUR OFFICE AWAY FORM HOME? Pretty much.

Divya Arun, of Roxborough, studying at Chestnut hill Coffee cafe.

Watch video here.

 

Jenks students cheer on walkers for breast cancer cure

JM: The reason we’re doing this is for our sister-in-law who had breast cancer diagnosed three (?) years ago. LS: Three years ago. She had a double mastectomy at 40. JM: She’s a survivor and we’re doing this in her honor. WHERE ARE YOU STARTING OUT FROM? LS: We started out from Willow Grove Park Mall and we’re from New Jersey. WHERE ARE YOU HEADED? LS: Now we’re headed to lunch. JM: We got forty more miles to go. Sixty miles total. We’re going to end up at the naval shipyard. Jim Myers and Linda Schwartz, participants in Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure, Germantown Avenue. Watch video here

Cat kidney transplants and adorable, adoptable Darla, rescued pit bull

WHAT’S NEW? “Well, we have kidney transplants. We have a cat that we had a kidney transplant done. So they take a kidney from a donor, put it in your cat and then you have to adopt that cat. That’s been going on a few years. It’s a nice thing we can do today. DO YOU DO IT HERE? No we send it to Penn. It’s working very well. HOW DOES A CAT BECOME A DONOR CAT? That’s a cat that’s usually from a shelter and the kidney’s taken out or they may have them at Penn, donors ready to go. And then you adopt that cat too. So you have two cats now, instead of one. You have two healthy kidneys in the house one in each cat… and this is Darla, she’s being fostered. She’s a rescue from down south, a real sweetie, so if anyone wants to adopt Darla, she’s here in our hospital. She comes with Julie our technician.” Sheldon Gerstenfeld, VMD, Chestnut Hill Veterinary Clinic, Erdenheim, with Darla and Julie Raymond. Watch video interview here.

Shopper spots doctor cousin on shopping cart advertisment

YOU JUST STOPPED ME TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE PHOTOGRAPH [ON THE SHOPPING CART] “Yes, I noticed it was my cousin, Dr. Milbourne, my name is Aaron Donaldson. He started out wanting to be a veterinarian. As a child he always loved animals, always had a lot of passion towards this life. He turned out to be a heart doctor and what a great heart doctor he is. One of the proudest moments of our entire family is him. We love him dearly.” Aaron Donaldson, outside Pathmark. Watch video interview here.

Flourtown evacuates heart patient by helicopter

“What it is- we get involved. It’s the heart rescue program out of Chestnut Hill Hospital. The individual has a ‘STEMI’, a blockage in his neck and they get to Penn Presbyterian within a 90 minute time frame and they have a 95% recovery rate. So the fastest way to get down there for them is to take him by helicopter. This year we’re also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Flourtown Fire Company being a hundred percent volunteer- started in 1910 and still going strong in 2010.” George B. Wilmot III, Chief, Flourtown Fire Company.

Watch helicopter evacuation and interview here.

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