Thursday, March 24, 2011

Project Share

Some of you know that I used to work in a research lab where we did a great deal of work with hemophilia. While working there, our lab acquired some expired factor for experiments but we always had an excess of factor that just sat in our fridge. Recently, I went to a great conference in Arizona about hemophilia camps and heard a presentation from Laurie Kelley, a fantastic person that has dedicated her life to helping those with hemophilia in underdeveloped countries. She began talking about the amount of factor we consume and use in this country and the struggles of those unable to get access to adequate care. Hemophilia is still a deadly disorder in those countries and she does whatever she can to send expired factor to these people so they can get some kind of care. After hearing this my thoughts went directly to all of the extra factor we had sitting in our research fridge, wasting away. I knew this could help someone in the world not as fortunate as myself so yesterday, I packaged everything up and shipped it off to Laurie. This factor will no longer sit being wasted and will help someone. Every time I think about this fact I realize how luck I am to live in this country and have access to care. I will never take this fore granted again and even I my toughest days I will always remember someone has it worse. I encourage everyone to visit Laurie site listed below and learn how you can help. We don't all have factor lying around but that is not the only way to give.

http://www.kelleycom.com/projectshare/index.html

2 comments:

  1. Chris, thanks so much for your donation! We haev a waiting list of children suffering with hemophilia, with no hope of treatment. You've given them hope. Thanks again.

    Keep training! You've got a real challenge ahead. It could be worse! You could be 53 and trying to climb Kilimanjaro...:) Laurie

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  2. Chris,
    I was wondering if you had ever had any direct experience with the use of the chemical luciferase in medical imaging? This study appears to talk about a group that has hybridized the chemical that lightning bugs use to illuminate for detailed imaging to monitor the effectiveness of heparin treatment.
    http://www.dailyrx.com/news-article/firefliesnot-just-pretty-look-10842.html

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