Kidney transplant recipient has a fresh take on life

Just six months after receiving a new kidney, Todd Mills was ready for a 4.5-kilometre walk to help others like himself.

"I haven't jumped into too much physical activity yet ... Next year I'll probably do the run and get right into it," said Todd before the start of the Give the Gift of Life Fun Run and Walk on Sunday morning.

The White City resident, who will turn 28 in two weeks, was the lucky recipient of a kidney donation in March. He, along with his wife Crystal and three-year-old daughter Eve, led the first annual walk, which raises money and awareness for organ donation in Canada.

Todd and Crystal were newlyweds and expecting their first child when he learned that, at age 24, he was turned down for a life insurance application.

"I was kind of surprised and sort of in disbelief. I found out I had a kidney disease and went from there. It progressed pretty rapidly and I ended up on dialysis. That was quite the life changing experience," explained Todd.

Crystal said it was devastating at first to learn of his illness. She admitted it was very tough to be juggling a baby while caring and worrying about her husband.

"If you can take it away from that individual at that point is what you try to do and carry a lot of it on your own. It was difficult at first because we had no idea what to expect," she explained.

Todd started dialysis when he was 26 due to the deterioration of his kidney function and was placed on the waiting list for a transplant. He received his new kidney on March 15.

"I had a couple rough patches after that but beyond that, I'm here now and everything is looking good so far," he said.

Roughly 100 people were expected to take part in Sunday's event with recipients of organ donations wearing green T-shirts to distinguish them in the crowd.

The event was designed to raise awareness of organ donation for which Canada has one of the worst records in the developed world.

Todd admitted organ donation was something he really didn't think about until he was in need of one.

"People do take their bodies for granted and it is such an easy thing to say, 'I'll donate my organs to someone else' but people don't do it. I don't know what it is, I was the same way. It took something like this to open my eyes. That's why I'm out here to hopefully encourage other people to do that same," he said.

Todd credits his wife and daughter for pulling him through the difficult time. While there were a few bumps in his recovery, Todd's admitted he is feeling really good.

"Maybe in the last six or seven weeks, I've really turned the corner and started to feel like myself again," he said.

Health fair brings attention kids

By Carolyn Casey
Rocky Mount Telegram

Residents gathered on the east side of Rocky Mount Saturday to better understand health issues affecting youth today.

Opportunities Industrialization Center’s Medical Center held a child health fair at its office to educate the community on the major health problems in the area and the resources available to residents.

“We have a lot of health fairs that are always geared to adults and seniors,” OIC Medical Center Office Manager Rita Boddie said. “We really fell we need to bring a lot of attention to our children’s health.”

One of the fair’s main objectives was to inform children, as well as their parents, about the risks youth face, Boddie said. The two major health problems pediatric physicians at OIC see are juvenile diabetes and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The OIC Medical Center estimates between 30 percent and 40 percent of its youth patients have ADHD, when the average statistic hovers around 5 percent in school-aged children.

Dr. Kari Lewis with ADHD Behavior Education Services said some surrounding counties, such as Johnston County, also are seeing higher numbers of children with the disorder.

Lewis couldn’t explain the numbers, but she said, “sometimes it’s overreported because of possible lack of discipline.”

Lewis was one of several speakers that addressed the crowd as she stressed ADHD is a disorder that people continue to cope with into adulthood.

“It’s really a prevalent problem,” she said. “I think a key thing to remember is it used to be characterized only as a childhood problem.”

In addition to speakers, organizations set up booths along the center’s parking lot handing out free information and discussing local resources, and free Tdap vaccines were given.

Representatives from Almand’s Drug Store, which has a location across the street from the medical center, shared information on its medical assistance program that allows patients who can’t afford private insurance to buy prescriptions for $4.

Community Care Plan of Eastern Carolina was on hand, teaching children about nutritious food and proper food portions.

The day also included a few fun perks. Children jumped in a bouncing inflatable play house and had their faces painted.

As Mikayla Edgerton, 10, stood in line to get her face painted, her dad, Tony Edgerton, said attending the fair was his children’s suggestion.

“It’s something to do for the kids, and it’s teaching them something,” he said.

Organizers said they hope the fair becomes an annual program. The plan is to continue the quasi-back-to-school event a few weeks into the school year, so parents can bring their children to the medical center once they know which vaccines each child needs, Practice Manager Queen Bethea said.

“We’re hoping this can be an annual event,” she said. “and recognize our kids and let them know we appreciate them.”

Study: stressed mothers may raise fat children

BEIJING, Sept. 3 -- Millions of poor children in the United States may be getting fat before age 10 because their mothers are stressed out and the youngsters seek escape in unhealthy comfort food, researchers said on Tuesday.

The stress is rooted in poverty and can be brought on by money woes, work loads, insufficient health insurance and other factors, said Craig Gundersen of the University of Illinois, who led the study.

"People will eat in response to feeling stress," he said in a telephone interview, and in this case children may be eating more in response to stress-related trouble at home.

The findings show there is a need for a firm social safety net for poor families with protections such as food stamps; better financial education to help people better manage money; and adequate health insurance coverage, he said.

Gundersen and colleagues at Iowa State University and Michigan State University looked at data on 841 children in families living below the poverty line who were part of a government nutrition survey conducted from 1999 to 2002.

"We found that the cumulative stress experienced by the child's mother is an important determinant of child overweight," the research team reported in a study published in the September issue of Pediatrics.

Children in stressed homes where there was plentiful food were more likely to be overweight or obese than those living in stressed situations where food was scarce, they added, because while both were reacting to stress, the former group had food available in which to find refuge.

"Children in food-secure households may have a greater ability to consume more 'comfort foods,' which are often unhealthy, in response to the (stress) they experience," they wrote.

Because most American children do not live in settings where food is scarce, the findings on maternal stress "may be an important factor for children in the United States who are overweight or obese," they concluded.

"Our findings are particularly relevant for children between the ages of 3 and 10," the researchers wrote, because older children can find release outside the home through friends or work.

An estimated 17 percent of US children between the ages of 2 and 19 are obese and another 16 percent are overweight.

"A number of mothers in this study suffer from at least one symptom of depression and anxiety. By providing these women with relevant medical care and counseling, these symptoms may be alleviated with the further indirect benefit of reducing childhood overweight," the researchers wrote.