#Information on Diseases & Conditions for Parents

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Things to do with Jack and Maddie without them being abusive

As someone who actually likes Jack and Maddie as characters (I'm a fervent shipper of Maddie/Jack/Vlad), it's a real bummer to see so many people out there deciding that for their DPxDC AUs that Jack and Maddie are abusive, when that really doesn't represent how they are in canon. Now I fully acknowledge that doing this can be a very useful tool for telling certain types of stories, and if you want to make a story about recovering from abuse and finding a new found family, all the more power to you for that! But for any other type of story where them being abusive isn't necessary for the backstory of the story you want to tell... It's just a bummer to do that, y'know? If you don't want to tell a story with Jack and Maddie in it, that's entirely fine! I'm not asking you to. But there are ways to get rid of them without making them abusive or dying. Of the two, I personally would prefer them dying (I just like the story potential of that, especially as far as Vlad is concerned). But there are plenty of easy things to do with them to keep them out of the story that don't require them being abusive or dead! So I'm here to give a list of things that can happen to them (that have precedent within either Danny Phantom itself or the DC universe) that keep them out of the story that don't require much explanation as well as some other ideas for what you can do with them if you have no idea what to do with them otherwise.

Lots of ideas under the cut! (Feel free to take what you want. As always, credit is appreciated, but not necessary. But I would love to see what you do with it!)

If you need them permanently absent so that Danny can get adopted

Fell into the Ghost Zone and cannot be found.

They are gone for whatever reason and Jazz is currently Danny's legal guardian (she's 18 or older and is therefore a legal adult).

While in the Ghost Zone, they accidentally traveled through time/got transported somewhere where they can't get home easily.

They got severely Joker gassed and are in medical care. (This is actually what happened to Duke's parents!)

They got severely Scarecrow gassed and are in medical care.

Went insane for some supervillain-related reason and are now missing/in medical care.

They were kidnapped by a villain for some reason.

They were kidnapped by a villain and are currently in a lotus-eaters simulation and therefore don't even know that they've gone missing.

Abducted by aliens.

They got wrapped up in some supervillain bullshit and now have amnesia and are unable to recognize Danny and Jazz.

They got magicked into something that can't take care of Danny and Jazz.

They were experimented on and are now incapable of taking care of Danny and Jazz.

Some cosmic entity did a whoopsie that effected Jack and Maddie and now they're in a condition/situation where they cannot take care of Danny and Jazz.

Got arrested and are in jail for some reason.

Were arrested and sent to jail for a long time. Have since joined Task Force X/the Suicide Squad for lienency.

Got hit by a stray Zeta-Beam and are now on some alien planet.

They got teleported somehow. We aren't certain about the details.

They fell into a hole to another world.

They no-clipped out of their normal reality.

Stranded with no way home.

They somehow ended up on a different planet. They are just hanging out with Space Cabbie now, who is just having a ROUGH day and can't find Earth for whatever reason.

Inducted into a Lantern Corps and are VERY busy because of it!

Coma.

Effected by a debilitating illness/disease/condition that makes them incapable of taking care of others.

They were forced to go undercover for some reason and therefore vanished. (Letting their kids know is optional)

They were forced to go undercover for some reason and were forced to fake their deaths.

They died, but came back to life. Danny has not been informed of this.

They got possessed by a superhero or supervillain who just wandered off with their bodies.

They got separated following a disaster and haven't been able to find each other again.

They've been retconned to hell and back again to the point where no one is entirely certain where they are, what they're doing, or even if they're alive anymore. Don't worry about it! Only mention them when it's relevant and the rest of the time we aren't going to bother explaining what's going on with them. If they are mentioned, accounts of where they are and what's going on with them are contradictory.

They're around, but will go unseen throughout this story

Any of the situations in the previous section, but it only happened to one of the parents, and the other is just too busy working and taking care of the kids by themselves.

The same as previous, but they also moved to Gotham.

Retcon things so that the events of Danny Phantom actually happened in Gotham City all along. (Maybe Amity Park is like... A suburb in the greater Gotham area.)

They went on vacation/were hired for a job that would take them away from home. They left Danny and Jazz to be taken care of by Vlad. Vlad is an asshole, so they ran away from him.

They went on vacation/were hired for a job that would take them away from home, but now that Jazz is over 18, she's been left in charge.

Put into Witness Protection by the government/the Guys in White.

Danny and friends have graduated from high school and are now legal adults, perhaps in college.

Danny's whole family moved to Gotham City. They're just at home/working during the events of this story.

Jack and Maddie have been hired to do some work with the Justice League and need to be away from home for an extended period of time. They have left a member of the Justice League to take care of Danny and Jazz in the meantime.

Fieldtrip/school trip to Gotham City.

Danny is old and responsible enough that Jack and Maddie trust Danny (and/or Jazz) to travel on their own. His parents are just a call away if he needs help.

Jack and Maddie are separated for whatever reason (one went missing/one is working abroad/they are divorced/one died) and the other moved to Gotham and is taking care of the kids in the meantime, but is busy and so will not appear.

Something happened to Fenton Works and the family needs to temporarily stay somewhere else while the problem with Fenton Works is sorted.

The family was driven out of town and they ran off to Gotham to escape the angry mob. (Or at least to wait until things cool down again.)

Jack or Maddie are able to work remotely and so they've moved to Gotham to do so. The kids came along/are visiting.

Jack and/or Maddie were hired for temporary work in Gotham and decided to bring the kids along.

One family member was taken to Arkham Asylum. They moved to Gotham to be closer.

Jazz went to Gotham for college. Danny is visiting.

Danny is sent to Gotham/Arkham for specialized health reasons.

Jack and Maddie have gotten in contact with a specialist that lives in Gotham and are visiting for work-related reasons.

They are on vacation in Gotham and brought the kids along. Danny and Jazz have been let off the leash to go where they want while Jack and Maddie do touristy stuff.

Visiting family/family friends living in Gotham.

They were passing through but are now unable to leave. (Bonus points if it's a No Man's Land situation.)

They were passing through, but were robbed. Jack and Maddie are dealing with the robbery stuff where Danny is off somewhere else.

They were just passing through, but Maddie and Jack got SEVERELY distracted by something and have run off to who knows where!

They are traveling with Vlad and expected Vlad to take care of and watch the kids!

Danny was abducted to Gotham.

Danny accidently ended up in Gotham somehow.

Danny somehow got transported/teleported to Gotham.

Doing an educational trip/apprenticeship/internship over in Gotham.

Danny ran away impulsively.

Some villain threatened Danny's family and forced him to run away from home.

Danny has revealed his secret to his parents, and while they might worry about Danny being a vigilante, believe in and trust Danny to do the right thing and allow him to do what he feels that he must to protect people.

The same as above, but Vlad also came out and is supervising.

They died.

I cannot understate the sheer JUICY storytelling potential that you can have by killing Jack and Maddie off! We already know how it might effect people and events from what we see in The Ultimate Enemy, but there really is limitless potential in terms of ways to twist, turn, and play with things to have different outcomes! Additionally, Jack and Maddie being genuinely good parents that die protecting Danny and Jazz offers lots of ways for Bruce to relate to Danny and Jazz! (He decided to become Batman so that no one would have to face what he did ever again... And he failed...) And the way that they die can offer some lovely different flavors of angst, coping mechanisms, motovations, and learning to deal with their loss. So here are some ideas for how to kill them off!

The universe exploded again, and when it was put back together, Jack and Maddie ceased to exist in current canon continuity. (This happens more often than you'd think.)

Vlad Wins.

They were killed in an apocalypse-level event.

They were killed in the crossfire of some superhero/supervillain fight.

They were taken by some villain. They were killed before the heroes could arrive.

They were killed in a random act of violence/crime. (Much like Batman's backstory. Do this to gain extra points from Bruce.)

Died in prison/after joining the Suicide Squad.

Gang violence.

Any of the previous but Gotham is just THAT dangerous!

Same as any gassing or supervillain plan, but they died instead of being missing or in medical care.

Got transported to a place where they died very far away from home.

They just died suddenly or because of an accident. It happens sometimes.

Things to note

Believe it or not, but your parents can still be in your life AND you can join the Batfamily AT THE SAME TIME! :D

Examples:

Barbra Gordon is very much in the Batfamily and both of her parents are alive and well. She's a very important part of the family, and in the comics, it is not uncommon to see her calling up her dad and talking to him! They'll even call each other if they need help with something. This does not take away from the fatherly role Bruce often has in her life. (She can have 2 dads and good for her for that!)

When Tim initially became Robin, his parents were alive and well. They would later die because comic writers are just like that, but being an orphan without loving parents in your life is not a prerequisite to being Robin.

Duke's parents are also alive! They are under the effects of Joker toxin, but they are alive, and if they ever find a cure for it, I imagine that they would be more than happy to have Duke back in their lives!

Terry from Batman Beyond is not an orphan and was taken under Bruce's wing to be the next Batman! Terry is even going to inherit a fair amount of Bruce's wealth for deciding to take on the responsibility of being Batman. But while his dad did die, his mom is still alive and well over the course of the series! And he has a little brother too! Terry may still be a teenager, but he is a bit of a breadwinner for his household while also still being an important part of Bruce's family. (He is often someone who helps Bruce take care of himself.)

But if the story you truly want to explore requires being adopted specifically... Well... You don't have to be a kid to be adopted! Jack and Maddie can still raise Danny and Jazz into adults and Bruce is able to adopt them later if he wants, once they have been well and established in his family! Hell, you don't even have to wait! As long as Bruce asks permission from Jack and Maddie, they can be alive AND he can adopt Danny! There is more than one way to be in a family, you know! And sometimes it takes a village! And really, would Jack and Maddie really object to Danny being adopted by billionaire Bruce Wayne, especially if Danny really is enjoying his time being a part of his family and if Bruce has been an absolutely lovely person to them whenever he visits?

So I hope that you're able to take some inspiration from all of this for your own stories! If you need some elaboration on what I mean with some of these, or want to ask who could be responsible for some of these and how, feel free to drop on by and send me an ask! I would be more than happy to go into some more detail about these! Happy writing!

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Law-Related Vocabulary

for your poem/story (pt. 2/4)

Admiralty - of or relating to conduct on the sea

Alter ego - second self

Attractive nuisance - a thing or condition on one's property that poses a risk to children who may be attracted to it without realizing the risk by virtue of their youth

Bequest - an act of bequeathing

Bequeath - to give by will

Bona vacantia - goods that are unclaimed and without an apparent owner

Capricious - governed or characterized by impulse or whim (e.g., lacking a rational basis; likely to change suddenly); not supported by the weight of evidence or established rules of law—often used in the phrase "arbitrary and capricious"

Colorable - having an appearance of truth, validity, or right

Damnum absque injuria - a loss for which the law provides no means of recovery

Dying declaration - a statement that is made by a person who firmly believes that he or she is about to die and has no hope of recovery and that concerns the circumstances or cause of the presumed death

Eleemosynary - of, relating to, or supported by charity

En ventre sa mere - in the womb

Euthanasia - the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured persons in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy; called also "mercy killing"

Exculpate - to clear from alleged fault or guilt

Filius nullius - an illegitimate child; bastard; called also "filius populi"

Finger - to accuse or identify as guilty

Fireman's rule - a doctrine holding that a property owner or occupant is not liable for unintentional injuries suffered by firefighters or police officers in responding to a problem on the property

First blush - initial view, appearance, or consideration—used especially in the phrase "at first blush"

First degree - the grade given to the most serious forms of crimes

Hereditament - inheritable property

Homestead - a home and surrounding land

Inchoate - not yet made complete, certain, or specific : not perfected

M'Naghten test - a standard under which a criminal defendant is considered to have been insane at the time of an act (as a killing) if he or she did not know right from wrong or did not understand the moral nature of the act because of a mental disease or defect; called also "M'Naghten rule"

Mulct - fine, penalty

Mysterious disappearance - the loss of property under unknown or puzzling circumstances which are difficult to explain or understand

Pierce - to see through the usually misleading or false appearance of

Poison pill - a financial tactic or provision used by a company to make an unwanted takeover prohibitively expensive or less desirable

Prior art - the processes, devices, and modes of achieving the end of an alleged invention that were known or knowable by due diligence before and at the date of the invention

Pur autre vie - for another's life

Shark repellent - any measure taken by a corporation to discourage a hostile takeover attempt

Silent record - a record of a criminal proceeding which does not show that the defendant acted with knowledge or understanding of his or her rights (as in entering a plea of guilty or waiving the right to counsel)

Sui generis - constituting a class alone; unique or particular to itself

Vexatious - lacking a sufficient ground and serving only to annoy or harass when viewed objectively

Wrongful birth - a malpractice claim brought by the parents of a child born with a birth defect against a physician or health-care provider whose alleged negligence (as in prenatal testing or diagnosis) effectively deprived the parents of the opportunity to make an informed decision whether to avoid or terminate the pregnancy

Yellow-dog contract - an illegal employment contract in which a worker disavows membership in and agrees not to join a labor union in order to get a job

More: Law-Related Words ⚜ Word Lists

[pokemonshelterstories]

Hello! I'm an almost 21 year old trainer from Sinnoh who recently moved back to the region after Living in Unova for a year, And my Parents informed me that my childhood starter (an Inferape I've had since age 10 and needed to leave with my parents because she was really sickly.) had passed away mere days before I came back. Apparently her heart gave out after she laid one last egg. Said egg hatched into a male Chimchar who so far seems healthy. I'm wanting to know if I should do some medical tests on my new Chimchar to see if he inherited any of his mother's genetic issues that I didn't get diagnosed til after I defeated Volkner.

i'm sorry to hear about your infernape. yes, you should absolutely run tests if he has a genetic history of heart disease. primate pokemon in particular are prone to heart failure, and anybody raising one should include heart monitoring in their health plan for their pokemon once they get past the age of about 4-8 depending on species (with chimchar this will be around 4-5 years old). thankfully, the chimchar line is not as prone to progressive heart disease as the grookey line (grookey adopted out as part of a starter program are typically fitted with a heart monitor prior to adoption for this very reason), but since his mother died of heart failure, you need to be really on top of watching him for signs of heart disease.

your vet can give you more information, but since he's so at-risk for heart issues, i would honestly recommend not battling him. pokemon that battle regularly have a higher rate of cardiac-related death than the non-battling population, reaching a rate almost 3 times the normal rate when you get to high-profile competitive battling scenes. an occasional casual battle or some light training here and there is fine and can be good for a pokemon like him, but anything beyond that could exacerbate any underlying conditions he may have inherited.

[thebibliosphere]

Hello there - I had a question which I think(?) you might be able to help with. Or at least point me in the direction of more information.

I have a few chronic illnesses and disabilities and as such there's many gremlins I deal with. One thing that crops up a lot are comorbidities between my conditions.

I'm trying to be more vigilant with regards to my health - as a child there were many, many missed opportunities to get my symptoms seen to by a doctor (all squandered due to my parents nor believing me about my symptoms).

Anyway, I wanted to ask about MCAS and if you know it's possible to have it but not realise it?

I've had a few incidents like this, but mostly forgot them or ignored them. But yesterday I ate some basil from my windowsill plant and I had what can only be described as an allergic reaction. I'm not allergic to any foods (as far as I know) but I've eaten from this exact plant before and been fine. I have mint growing next to it which I also ate and it caused the same reaction. Again, I've eaten from this exact plant before. It was like my mouth was burning or stinging and the leaves felt, spicy? In my mouth. I'm not sure how to describe it but I hope you know what I mean. Today I ate from the exact same plants and had no reaction whatsoever.

I've definitely had similar things happen before- but events like yesterday are few and far between. But utterly confounding when they do happen. I have urticaria (diagnosed since age 18) which I suspect is relevant, somehow.

I'm starting to wonder if a lot of my symptoms I've written off have actually been MCAS. But I'm not sure. Do you have any advice around talking to a doctor about this or if I have a leg to stand on so to speak?

Sending my best wishes!

Hey friend, sorry to hear you've been dealing with some neglect.

And considering MCAS was only really recognized as a condition in the last 15 years, it's absolutely possible to have it and not know until symptoms get worse. I was experiencing anaphylactoid reactions my whole childhood, but because I tested negative on IgE tests (I still do), it was dismissed as anxiety right up until I hit my 30s and I experienced my first episode of full-blown idiopathic anaphylaxis.

(Note: anaphylaxis is not a requirement for diagnosis, and not everyone experiences it.)

You should discuss your inconsistent allergies with your doctor or allergist. I would also advise pursuing allergen testing, as new allergens can develop at any time, even if you don't have mast cell instability.

If you suspect some form of mast cell instability may be the root cause of your issues, I'd suggest checking out The Mast Cell Disease Society. (Their website is in the process of being updated, still. But they have good resources there.)

Their signs and symptoms (and triggers) page has recently been updated and is fairly concise:

If any of that rings a bell, it might be worth bringing up with your allergist, but fair warning, not everyone is receptive to the idea of mast cell disorders outside of mastocytosis. (And even then some doctors gaslight their patients to hell and back.)

If you do find yourself in this situation, try joining a couple of support groups to see if there are any MCAS aware doctors in your area, or alternatively, try the TMS physician finder tool:

Sorry if it seems like I'm just throwing a lot of links at you, but they are very useful links and I'm not at my best right now to explain things.

I hope this is helpful and if I missed something, please let me know.

I wish you luck in remedying your chronic health issues <3

[merakiui]

victorian era doctor riddle rosehearts and his darling patient suffering from hanahaki disease.

dr. rosehearts who is the finest medical practitioner in town, renowned for his expertise and intelligence in the field. so it's only fitting that, as a noble and only child hailing from a wealthy set of parents, you are given the best treatment available. riddle sees so many affluent families and so you're no different. this disease, however, is an oddity. it's very scarcely documented in old texts, and most of the information regarding it has been lost to time. supposedly, the cure to this flowery ailment remains unknown. for riddle, this is as much of a challenge as it is an inspiration. he will cure you; that's his promise as a proud doctor.

so to better monitor you and keep track of your condition, riddle suggests you be moved into his home. a temporary arrangement, of course. it's not nearly as grand as what you're used to, but it is quite spacious. it's half hospital and half home, a place in which patients come to him. for isolation purposes, if their illness is particularly dangerous, amongst other reasons. and what reason would anyone have to doubt the great dr. rosehearts?

your parents are desperate. they'll do anything if it means you'll stop coughing up petals or complaining of a throat scratched sore by persistent thorns. riddle collects samples of the petals in hopes that the town's botanist rollo flamme can identify the exact species, where it commonly grows, how to safely manage it, and so on. it's a peculiar case, one riddle has only ever spied remnants of in old notes.

you rely so heavily on dr. rosehearts, your way of life compromised. you beg him to help you, to get rid of whatever's causing this. it takes time, but rollo identifies the flower. it's a curious finding. such a flower is not native to this part of the country. in fact, there should be no reason for it to be here, for it cannot thrive in this type of environment. riddle is left puzzled. just how did such a flower find its way into your system? what is sustaining it? is it sapping your life away? so many questions arise, yet none can be answered in full.

most importantly, what does the timeline look like if death looms on the horizon? how long does he have before the worst strikes?

it has been some time and, though he knows he ought to remain impartial, dr. rosehearts has found himself infatuated with his poor patient. he tends to you like one might a rose in a garden, diligently and ever so carefully, pruning away signs of sickness in order to keep you somewhat healthy. it feels inevitable, even more so when your legs give out and, much to your horror, little branches with tiny leaves begin to poke through your ankles.

so now you're placed in a wheelchair, and that is that. most days he thinks you're more doll than human, especially since your spirits seem far more dampened than they once were. you wither in your chair, quiet and wistful, longing for good health. though it's in his profession to save, he's never seen you in a more beautiful state. like a statue doomed to exist in stiff silence. like a single flower struggling to brave harsh conditions. like a doll destined to be taken care of by his gentle, capable hands.

he was never allowed dolls as a child. such toys were distracting according to his mother. but now he has one for himself and, even if he thinks himself too old to play with dolls, you're one he just can't put down.

perhaps it's for the best that your legs are broken and your lungs are weak and your entire body is supported by this parasitic plant. with this, he's given the chance to finally indulge in one of the many things he was denied as a child.

the appeal of a doll is that they are versatile. they can wear an entire wardrobe of clothes. they can be bent into various positions. they can look upon you with glass eyes and smile with rosebud lips. and they can't speak. never speak!

riddle doesn't need to be traditional for something so unethical. weddings and rings and courtship mean everything in his dreams, but he is a man watered with logic and sensibility. and you are just a quiet, fragile rose drowning in unwanted, suffocating affection.

[into-september]

“Guilttrip” and the problem of conditional morals (or: why man invented the principle of the principle)

NOTA BENE: this was written very shortly after the episode aired. I found it in some draft document just last week, and the time appears to have come to discuss the way this show goes about the principle of confidence.

...

...even if it sure has changed its tune since then. So with the note that there is an ocean of difference between medical issues and vital information about someone else's supernatural origins, their creators and the dangerously fragile conditions of their life and freedom: enjoy, I guess.

I have problems with this episode. I don’t take issue with the the intended moral (“don’t suffer in silence; a burden shared is a burden halved”), but the fact that the narrative used to address this moral SHOULD NOT EVER be made an ideal to be followed in real life.

Content warning: This post mentions in general terms the existence of things which all too many children experience, but which patently do not exist in the narrative of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Specifically: child abuse, substance abuse, sexual abuse, eating disorders, suicide, serious illness and the messy bodily consequences of such.

In other words: Things that we don’t talk about for very different reasons than keeping your superhero identity a secret from the world.

Note for context: I’m under two different levels of professional confidance; the kind of “can get me fired and both me and my employer taken to court if the breech is grave enough” kind of not talking about other people’s personal information. That is the main background why this episode bothers me: If that had been Miss Bustier telling the kids why Rose didn’t come back to class, she’d been in serious professional trouble - not because sharing this particular information to these particular people would be harmful, but because of the highly held principle she’d be violating and which would’ve not ended so happily if that was someone else than Rose they concerned. Not the least because this case wasn’t just the PRINCIPLE of confidentiality, but in fact Rose’ explicit wish for this information to remain secret. For reasons that the episode revealed were well-considered and reasonable because once said information got out, the outcome was exactly what Rose feared.

Since a part of my profession concerns keeping track of doctor’s notes and being mindful about the challenges my pupils might face because of health-related reasons, the years have seen me hearing a lot of stories far less pretty than Rose’s. I hear the stories of the kids who have been abused, and kids who have been molested, and the kids struggling with substance abuse - be it their own or their parents’. Kids with EDs and kids going to therapy and kids who were bullied, kids whose parents are dying from cancer and kids who found their brothers after the suicides. Many of us are broken in so many different ways, and airing all the world’s dirty laundry isn’t always where healing lies.

The only reason “Guiltrip” can be a happy story is because Miraculous Ladybug happens in a universe where the working class can afford to live in the most expensive properties in Europe, in a Paris where there are no homeless people sleeping on the streets and where Rose Lavaillant’s optimism turns out to be merited. Rose’ condition manifests on screen only as fairly managable headaches; no collapsing in public, no missing large amounts of education because of migraine, no having half-digested food come out in either direction; Rose is the 21st C update of the Victorian consumption victim beautifully wasting away in pristine white bedsheets.

To be clear: this isn’t me wishing MLB would depict the revolting realities of disease weaponising the body against itself. MLB is rose-tinted and sugary-sweet; it’s a romantic fantasy and that is why it is enjoyable, that is exactly what I want it to be. My objection isn’t with MLB’s romanticism, but with this particular application of romanticism to teach children a lesson that could have disastrous consequences if followed in real life.

Because imagine that the “serious disease that isn’t going away” causing Rose’s headaches was anorexia, which was her way of handling a background of sexual abuse. Instead of the innocent victim who inspires everyone with the way she handles her cruel fate, Rose’s story is now the story of a girl who DIDN’T handle it; who was broken, and who keeps breaking herself. Maybe she throws up her food after lunch. Maybe she got the pixie cut to hide that her hair is falling out. Maybe the reason she refuses to share her girlfriend’s worry is because she’s in denial about how serious her illness is, or even that she’s ill at all.

In this tale, Rose’s disease isn’t so easily comprehended. Here, her classmates’ inability to mind their own business means she’ll be expected to answer invasive questions about her mental health. Their monitoring her symptoms will be the very least thing she needs in order to heal. Their insisting that they’ll share her pain will never be sincere, because Rose is very unlikely to make public the trauma and the shame and the reason her cousin is in prison.

Am I reaching into hyperbole? Certainly, but per real world standards, both explanations for Rose’s mystery conditions are equally realistic, and one of them is not something your average crowd of middle schoolers is ready to handle in a mature and helpful manner.

THIS is why “Guilttrip” works only within its own hermetically closed narrative, and is a disaster as a moral tale: Because in the real world, there are very good reasons why your medical history is private information that people are professionally required to never talk about. Something as innocent as digestive problems can be a topic you don’t want to discuss with your classmates; I absolutely sympathise with not wanting to share with all your peers that you’re not in school today because you haven’t had a dump for a week. I’m a grown-ass woman with a personal goal of normalising talk about “women’s issues”, but even I feel uncomfortable telling my boss that I’ll be going home early today because my uterus is not my friend.

[karin-gespenst]

disabled children and their parents - part 1

this post will be about babies born with disabilities, and part 2 will be about Susan Mullocks.

Call the Midwife has quite a number of families that are surprised to learn that their newborn has something going on that will make their lives different. Understandably they go through shock and adjustment periods and have to face difficult decisions. We will take a look at some examples in the third part of this post.

In a few cases the parents know before birth that there could be something that endangers their babies life and/or wellbeing.

One of the cases where the parents worry because of an older sibling who has a problem is the Sands family with Elaine. The girl shows symptoms of delayed development and starts having fits, due to phenylketonuria. Fortunately her baby sibling is fine. Elaine will need a special diet all her life to manage her condition and it is unclear how much she will be able to catch up on development. Both her parents are educated by medical staff and do their best. s10e5

Another family who has health concerns is the Aidoo family: first diagnosed in expecting mother Flora, they learn that her son and husband also have sickle cell disease. With both parents afflicted, it's a big concern that their newborn could also have it. Knowing what it is that will make their own and their children's lives harder, the family adjusts with the help of the Nonnatuns. Sickle cell disease remains a huge challenge for families and the health care providers worldwide - one thing people anywhere can do to help is sign up as a stem cell donor and maybe one day donate healthy blood stem cells to a patient. s8e2

In one case it was the grandmother who worried, because she knew about the family history with haemophilia. Hoping her daughter, Lorna Pryce, would have a baby girl, she did not mention that her husband died of the blood disorder. When the baby boy is born, it becomes apparent quickly that something is not working well and he needs hospital care in his first days of life. Probably not for the last time. His grandmother's experience may be helpful in managing his condition. s12e3

Kinda worried: The Reed family. Achondroplasia is making some things a challenge for Peggy and Derek Reed. The doctors fear that the baby they are expecting is going to have the condition as well - which would be likely, and the parents know what life would bring for their child. The other worry is that the child may not live, which would be very hard to bear. In the end the child is well and of regular size for a newborn. The new worry of her parents is that she will outgrow them soon - and they will indeed have to make adjustments again and again, like all parents have to. s6e3

Very clear example of a couple who has plenty of reasons to be anxious: another father called Derek, who has served in the army and was exposed to radiation during his time, is suffering even years after. What he did not expect is that the radiation poisoning would affect his children. When his wife Audrey gives birth, their son Christopher only lives for a few hours. Christopher's body did not develop in a way that made survival possible. The damage his father had endured on a genetic level caused Christopher's legs to be only half formed and more anomalies less visible caused his death. A deep shock for his parents. s10e1

A year later, after collecting information about similiar cases, Audrey is pregnant again. They trust the Nonnatuns to help again with the birth, but their fear that the new baby might also have problems is throwing a shadow over their excitement. Luckily their baby girl is well and lives. s11e1

Another example from an earlier season: (s3e5) in this episode mainly the baby's grandparents and the medical staff are worried that it might have a genetical condition: Sally Harper, a young woman with Down's syndrome, is pregnant. The baby's father, Sally's boyfriend Jacob who also lives in St. Gideon's, wants to marry her but is refused because he has a disability, too. Their baby is born too early and does not survive. We do not learn if it had Down's Syndrome. Sally and Jacob are separated, her parents would rather forget about everything. Jacob is sent to a different institution and does not get to say goodbye to Sally or to their child.

let's stay a while on the topic of babies who die from their disabilities.

Irene and Pat Kelly are devastated when their newborn son dies suddenly. Later they learn that he had a problem with his lungs, they were not developed fully and that cut his life very short. There was no sign of a problem right after his birth, and there was nothing that could have been done to help him. The Kelly's can only grieve. s2e2

Valerie's cousin Maureen gives birth to her third child, Warren. At first everything looks fine, then she notices that her son is unusually floppy and quiet. Dr Turner finds symptoms that point to a problem with his heart, and the diagnosis later is that the baby was exposed to german measles in utero. Several problems make it unlikely that he will live long, and his parents are shocked and sad. Then they decide to care for him at home to make his life as comfortable and happy as they can. Maureen attempts to help her older children to cope with the situation and form a bond with their baby brother. Warren dies quietly while his parents and siblings are sleeping close by. This way the family was able to say goodbye in a way they could bear. s9e6

Ruby Cottingham, proud mother of a bunch of boys, is pregnant again and hopes she'll get a girl. She has a difficult labor and needs a C-section, and the doctor is taken aback when he sees that the child is missing all limbs and other body parts. The hospital staff never lets Ruby see her baby, they decide to put the newborn in a side room and let the child die instead of trying to find out how to help. Sister Julienne finds and holds the baby while it is passing away. She is speaking up against a cruel decision, and later delivering the horrible news to Ruby. In the months after Ruby is dealing with her pain mostly alone and when she learns why her child died it is of no comfort. Thalidomide damaged her baby and she lost her child because some complete strangers did not do their work properly and sold dangerous medication. s5e4

Of the parents with disabled babies who lived there are some who will grow up just fine because their problem can be fixed with surgery, medication or other treatments. We'll look at them towards the end of this post. On the other hand, some children will be unwell all their lives and not grow as old as their peers.

Merle and Billy Vickers have two sons with the same puzzling poor health symptoms, and the little one is only saved from choking because his mother ran with him to get help at Nonnatus house. Sister Monica Joans insistence that Dr Turner look into an old textbook that describes their illness helps find the diagnosis "cystic fibrosis" and the treatment that will make the two boys' lives easier. With artificial enzymes they can have less side effects, but they will never be completely fine. s3e1

A newborn with a broken bone needs very careful handling. When Janice and Ray Prendergast have their first baby, Raymond, Sister Julienne discovers two broken bones within a very short time. Afraid that the boy has been assaulted, Dr Turner decides to take him away from his parents and into foster care. When the foster mother brings the baby in with another fracture, it becomes apparent that Raymond has osteogenesis imperfecta, and is therefore likely to suffer more broken bones. Extremely careful handling will protect him somewhat, but his life will be very challenging. s4e5

Two families, Shirley and Ian Dent and Marion and Godfrey Smith, are faced with a predicament like few others: their babies were muddled in the maternity home and each family took home the wrong child. One of the girls, Deborah, has a heart problem and will need surgery to survive. The parents are shocked and worried, and then they learn that the baby they have been caring for is not their own but the daughter of their aquaintances. They suddenly have the option of giving up the responsibility for Deborah. But it is not that easy. They have formed a bond with the sick child and cannot imagine just swapping her for another baby, not even their biological child, Jackie. The question how each family will go forward is unresolved, and we don't know if the risky surgery went well and the girl was fine. s4e7

Also unclear what became of the youngest child in the Lund family. The mother and older sister have Huntington's disease and will suffer increasingly from nerve damage. The hereditary condition could also be present in the baby, with no option of diagnosis as long as there are no symptoms. s7e3

Let's move on to more cheerful stories, shall we?

Remember Kirk? Youngest of six children, born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. Very inconvenient when your only job is sleeping and nursing. Milk gets into the airways and pneumonia will creep in, it's a nightmare. Now his mom Betty is usually a very competent and energetic woman. But with five other children demanding her attention and no husband at home because those sailors tend to sail away all the time, Betty feels she cannot give Kirk the care he needs. Adoption is considered. Until Valerie swoops in, sweeps the school children out the door, smack-talks the oldest boy into taking appropriate responsibility and gives Betty a hand with some of the chores. Kirk has his first surgery, his dad comes home, there's applause and a few years later he gets to be a flower child at Lucille's wedding. s8e3

Also in hospital with some complicated treatment: Clover, daughter of Clover, who now wants to be called Susan again. While the young woman wanted to give birth as naturally as possible, her baby needed immediate intervention because she was born with gastroschisis. Shelagh saves the day with some excellent staying calm skills, and the staff at the children's hospital find a way to put Clover's organs back where they belong. Susan reconciling with her father will also help Clover grow up safe and healthy. s13e2

I did not know that it is possible for a baby to be born with cancer. But apparently it happens often enough to have a name, this quite unlucky genetical mishap. Retinoblastoma. Both of Lindy Webster's girls have it and need treatment. They will be fine. The older girl will have just the one eye, but that's okay. Compared to other parents the Webster family is actually chill and will get through this. s13e5

Stefanie Baxter will be fine, too. More than that, probably, because her hip dysplasia is actually not that rare, the treatment is effective and she will have little long term problems. At first her mom Gillian was out of her depth, learning how to carry and care for a baby that needs to be in a harness and held in a certain way. Her husband Liam helps, as does Phyllis, who was the first to notice Stefanie's problem. Being carried in a baby wrap will help keep her legs in the right position and that is a really cosy way to take your newborn places or calm it down. s13e2

Of all the parents who are surprised by a baby with a disability, the Dellow family has the most happy outcome in my view. Blanche had planned to give her newborn to her childless sister, because her older children are already grown. When baby Robert arrives, he gets the diagnosis of Down's syndrome, and his aunt does not want to become his mother anymore. Blanche meanwhile calmly gets to know the little guy, is appaled by her sister's attitude and decides to keep him. Her husband initially finds it hard to deal with, but a conversation with Fred Buckle about Reggie changes his view. Violet even thanks Blanche for giving her the chance to glimpse a part of Reggie's past, because she never knew him as a baby. A couple of years later Robert is best friends with Reggie and they have the best time. 10e7

I'll close part 1 and wander on to write part 2 with the lovely line from Susan's second episode:

"Children must be loved. There is no rule in life so simple, or so true."

[moomeecore]

I donated to a few funds for families in Palestine and Sudan recently, and I've seen a lot of posts saying that if you do that you should post about it, preferably describing the gofundmes and encourage people to match your donation! so here's the fundraisers in question! they are all from this list of vetted fundraisers

Try to match my donations for at least one of these fundraisers! Feel free to comment or reblog saying if you donated and encouraging other people to do so! Show people that people are donating, and that they can too!

Fundraiser for Ahmed Al Habil and family - the fundraiser is for Ahmed, his a wife, his two kids, and his parents. He has a tumblr @ahmedkhabil His father's pelvis was broken, and he is suffering with ulcers on his legs and feet, but unable to get the necessary medical attention. His daughter, Joan, has been sick with esophageal reflux, and only started to recover half a year before the family was displaced, and now her condition is beginning to worsen again. The money is being used to provide food, water, and medicine to the family of 6, and to try and save up to evacuate to Egypt. Right now they have £11,623 raised out of their £81,000 goal

Mohammed Almanasra and family - the fundraiser is for Mohammed, his wife, and his three children - who are 6, 4, and 3 years old, and their cat. Family members, including Mohammed's parents, have died because of bombings. Mohammed has chronic asthma and extreme allergies that are going untreated, and his wife's cancer treatment was interrupted by the attacks, and is now on hold. The funds will be used to evacuate the family to Egypt, to secure housing, for medical treatment, and for basic needs. They have $35,412 raised of their $50,000 goal.

Elaf Babiker and family - the fundraiser is for Elaf, her mother, her four siblings (the youngest of which is 13), and her aunt. Her mother has asthma and hypertension, and she is worried that she may develop further cardiovascular or respiratory diseases as a result of the stress and lack of medication. The funds will be used to evacuate the family from Port Sudan to Rwanda, and to help with living expenses in Rwanda. They have $20,998 raised out of their $35,000 goal

Suheir Hojok and family - the fundraiser is for Suheir, his wife, his three kids, his parents, his brother & his sister-in-law & their child. The gofundme dosen't have as much information, but there is a tumblr post with more details on their situation. They have raised $41,808 AUD out of their $70,000 goal

Abdallah and family - the fundraiser is for Abdallah, his mother and father, his brother and sister, and his cats. He also has been rescuing stray cats he finds and is doing his best to the keep them with him and try to keep them safe as well. Abdallah's cousin and two of his friends who were helping him with the animals were killed. His younger brother is a child with special needs. The funds are being used to pay for shelter/housing and basic needs for the family and the animals. They have raised $86,646 out of their $120,000 goal

[n-e-x-u]

ALEXANDER VOLKOV

MAIN INFO

Name: Alexander Volkov Mikhailovich

Alias: Alex

Age: 23 years old (for the time of 2024)

Orientation: Heterosexual

Native language: Kazakh

Other languages: English, Russian

Nationality: Kazakh

Date of birth: June 30, 2001

Rank: Lieutenant

Place of birth: Karaganda city, Kazakhstan

Eyes: grey

Hair color: dark brunette

Height: 174 cm/5`8

Weight: 85 kg

Body type: strong, athletic

Diseases: heart failure

REALITIONSHIPS/FAMILY

Relationships: -

Father: Mikhail Volkov Gennadievich

Mother: Tatiana Volkova/Verbitskaya (maiden name) Ivanovna (dead)

Sister: (Name is a secret) Volkova Mikhailovna

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Fighting style: Ranged combat

Weapon: L96A1 rifle (used with a silencer)

Special skills: good eyesight, fast running

AFFLIATIONS

A former soldier of the FSPA (Federal Special Purpose Agency), left after an accident. He currently serves in Task Force 141

INJIRIES

A burn on half of his face after the explosion of a rifle, a scar on his arm after the explosion, several scars on his body

PERSONALITY AND TRAITS

Ambivert: in some situations, he can be energetic and sociable, and in others quiet and withdrawn. But in general, he is close to the behavior of an introvert and prefers to be alone, but if necessary, he can talk to someone.

Surface reading: he is able to quickly read the material and memorize information just as quickly

PERSONAL PREFERENCES

Favorite book: "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov

Favorite color: monochrome, dark shades, pastel shades

Bad habits: smoking

Favorite drink: does not drink alcohol, tomato juice

Favorite food: shawarma, vegetable salads, dumplings, instant noodles, spicy dishes

Favorite musicians: BI – 2, VULGAR MOLLY, 2rbina 2rista, NERVES

FUN FACTS

He is a programmer by education, but he needed this specialty for his diploma. After completing his studies, he joined the army

He cooks well, if he is in a good mood, he can cook delicious food. He hates eating in the army canteen, which is why he prefers to cook something himself in a hurry, such as noodles or dumplings

Very attentive. Can notice things that others don't notice

Copes poorly with stress. Let him always have a stony face, but he can easily snap at someone

Respects people with high rank

He can use people for his own benefit

BACKGROUND STORY

Alex was born into a single-parent family. His father divorced his mother before he was born. His older sister helped her mother as much as she could and studied at the same time. When Alex was born, his mother was glad to see him, because an heir and a long-awaited son were born. Everything was fine until the age of 12, until the tragedy happened. His mother died at work during a fire. After that, he was sent to an orphanage, from where his sister decided not to take him away because of her personal injuries after his father. After 18, he was kicked out of the orphanage and given an apartment in a more or less normal condition, where he lived while studying and worked in a cafe for a low salary.

When he was 19, a man came to him who offered him a job at the agency where his mother died. When he found out what money they promised him, he immediately agreed. He was an excellent soldier, and in particular a sniper. It may sound silly, but he was the best sniper. That was the end of his skills, he was bad at close combat and therefore decided that he would work from afar.

Of course, there were those who envied him. They envied his luck, because it cost him almost nothing to get to this place, while others were not so "chosen" and they had to gnaw out a place for themselves here. Unknown people decided to get rid of him, and therefore seriously framed him during one of the missions.

During the mission, as usual, Alex took a comfortable position to get a better view from above and cover his own. His task was one, to remove people who would interfere. Shot after shot, everything went like clockwork. But after another shot, the rifle exploded in his hands, thereby hitting the floor of his face and his left eye.

These few hours were like a blur: screams, gunshots, pain, hospital and white light. This event was deposited deep in his head, it's hard to forget. Those months of recovery were difficult both mentally and physically. As a result, he almost completely lost sight in his left eye and his face was disfigured by a large burn. Due to the injury, he constantly wears the darkest sunglasses possible so as not to attract attention to himself once again. After such an event, he immediately resigned, because he did not want to put his life on the brink again.

After his dismissal, he worked from time to time as a mercenary, if someone needed his support, because there were people who heard and knew where he left from. He has no friends or acquaintances, which is why he is very withdrawn into himself. Some time later, an unknown person, as she later introduced herself, Kate Laswell, wrote to him. She offered him a job, helping a certain group in one case by promising a good sum, to which Alex of course agreed.

At the end of their collaboration, Price liked Alex, there would be no extra hands in the team, and invited him to work with them. Alex, of course, thought about his proposal, but still agreed.

APPEARANCE

[kalmiaclown]

‎‏I am mohammed ayyad of Gazans, living in very difficult conditions because of the war that the Gaza Strip is under. Since the outbreak of the war on the seventh of October we have been evacuating .

‎‏Then the journey of suffering and separation began,because my children were separated and evacuated from our home without covering or clothes., From here they became infected with diseases, and what increased our fatigue was the constant upbringing due to the different areas in which we were displaced, as we were displaced 9 times, and this was very expensive, the last of which was the 9th of this August from Hamad Town. In addition to that, we have lived in the summer season in a tent that did not exceed three meters, closed with nylon, so it is like an agricultural greenhouse atmosphere. It is very hot. All in all, we live difficult days that no human beings can afford

We have no work because of the war, and we do not have any kind of money and this is accompanied by a crazy and horrible rise in prices.

Although water is not suitable for drinking, this is the cause of many diseases

The last suffering is that we are out of Hamad without taking our purposes or our tents and now we are searching the earth in the roads and our children and our elderly parents are suffering..So we use direct donation including what they can or share links fully so people can know our tragedy and pain. Remember a small contribution can make a difference in the lives of many children who are dealing with their health condition all. Leave their details and make them happy with your generous contribution.

many posts and comments may say this is a scam, but it is not, I have done further searching and found this post verifying it. So please reblog and donate if you can. They have not been donated much money most likely due to the false information being spread!!

https://gofund.me/3a1b69e5

[tieflingkisser]

All Autistic People Have Value, Something RFK Jr. and Profound Autism Parents Refuse to Understand

From the article:

RFK Jr.’s statements were so fundamentally wrong and hateful that they succeeded in doing what many in our community would have deemed impossible: Catalyzing the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and Autism Speaks (and many other orgs) to issue a Joint Statement on Upholding Scientific Integrity and Supporting the Autism Community:

“We are deeply concerned by growing public rhetoric and policy decisions that challenge these shared principles. Claims that Autism is “preventable” is not supported by scientific consensus and perpetuate stigma. Language framing Autism as a “chronic disease,” a “childhood disease” or “epidemic” distorts public understanding and undermines respect for Autistic people.”

But of course, one segment of the autism community was overjoyed by RFK Jr.’s comments: The Profound Autism Parents, or, as I call them, the Autism Grievance Parents. These parents are notable for their toxic combination of resentment over having disabled children and fury at anyone who dares to question the vile ways they publicly speak about those disabled children (especially if those critics are themselves autistic or disabled). They think RFK Jr. has their back, which means that both he and they are united in making autistic people’s lives even harder and more stigmatized than they already are.

[....]

When parents like me believe “profound” autism is a separate condition from “high functioning autism,” our own children’s illnesses, or common co-occurring conditions like migraines or Tourettes or anxiety can get overlooked, unaddressed, or written off as “behavior” or just “severe autism.” Such parents may get frustrated when approaches like Applied Behavioral Analysis, which ignores autistic needs in favor of conditioning “normal” behaviors, backfires.

And because of the relentless negativity, fearmongering, and pseudoscience that seeps into media coverage of autism, “profound” autism communities are also often magnets for parents whose goal is to cure or treat autism, instead of understanding how to support an autistic child—especially if that child has other disabilities. And then when “nothing worked” because all of those parents’ kids are “still autistic,” and everyone is angry and feeling hopeless, the parents are left claiming that “no one” is addressing their “profoundly autistic” children’s support needs, so they need to create a separate category.

[...]

Parents who aren’t themselves autistic or disabled and who rely on these mainstream autism resources may therefore have no guidance for viewing their children positively. They may not see their kids as who they are, but rather as what they aren’t. They won’t have the lived context to teach their children self-acceptance or self-advocacy, which means their kids may not learn that they deserve and have the right to whatever accommodations they need. Again, these will not be happy families.

But if parents get their information about parenting autistic kids from the autistic community, they will find people who think that their kids are awesome, and deserve to be happy, and want their parents to feel the same way. The parents will learn about autism from people who had autistic childhoods. They can find out that the way their autistic child socializes is perfectly normal—for an autistic person—and that many social communication difficulties go both ways. They find out that the child’s strong interests can bring them deep joy, their repetitive movements can bring them peace, and their insistence on sameness can help them cope with an unpredictable world. They find out that things that non-autistic people consider “no big deal” are actually a very big deal for autistic people, like noises and flickering lights and consistency and processing delays and surprises. They learn to respect and work with the autistic child’s communication style, especially if the child uses echolalia, scripting, or alternative communication methods like typing or iPad apps. They will find out that autistic people consider ABA therapy a form of torture, and that at the same time some types of speech therapy and occupational therapy can be crucial.

When parents get information about their kids’ disabilities from the disability community, they will find people who think that their kids are awesome, and want their parents to feel the same way. They can also help parents understand that meaningful inclusion in school matters more than token mainstreaming without supports, that interdependence and being able to make choices matter more than becoming completely independent, and that being part of a community means increased personal safety while segregated living means increased personal peril.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

By Julia Doubleday

Last week, Jason Gale of Bloomberg put out an excellent piece about post-COVID brain damage, titled “What We Know About Covid’s Impact on Your Brain.”

The piece is broad and draws on dozens of studies to paint a concerning picture of Your Brain on COVID. It’s not the first piece to do so in the mainstream press, but it’s one of a small handful over nearly half a decade. Gale’s piece gathers evidence pointing to increased risks of dementia, Parkinson’s disease, cognitive impairment, worsening of previous psychiatric conditions, and significant drops in IQ.

The piece goes on to mention viral persistence, immune system disruption and blood clots as linked to the cognitive impacts of COVID- all three are key targets of ongoing research into Long COVID. It’s a wonderful summary to help people get a picture of the enormous amount of research pointing to brain damage following COVID.

It also begs the question: why is the public learning potentially life-altering information about a virus they’ve almost certainly contracted multiple times now from the economics section of Bloomberg? (Or from The Gauntlet, for that matter?)

As politicians pushed us all “back to normal”, a common refrain from the top was that we “had the tools” to deal with COVID, and that individuals could now make their own decisions about what sorts of risks they were comfortable taking.

I’ve written at length about the absurdity of attempting to individualize what is a collective problem. What was once a libertarian, far-right wing idea - disease control should be the territory of individuals, not society at large- was first promoted by Republicans, then mainstreamed by liberals in order to paint Biden’s failed vaccine-only herd-immunity strategy as a success.

As we settled into a cycle of endless waves of disease driven by rapidly evolving new variants, our government and public health bodies continued to promote the fantasy that everyone can make their own decisions about whether or not to get infected.

Of course, anyone who does make the “risk assessment” that catching COVID is unsafe for them is functionally shut out of society. It’s hardly a choice freely made, as the social and economic punishments for failing to “return to normal” continue to intensify.

But it wasn’t enough to snatch away free tests, vaccines and COVID treatments, all but eliminate the isolation period for active infections, and push people to view disease control as a personal responsibility. Along with instructing people to make their own “risk assessments” about COVID, our government also downplays, minimizes, and flat out denies the risks of recurrent infections.

For example: COVID causes cognitive damage. That seems like an important piece of information to give the American public while you encourage them to make risk assessments about whether to contract it every year, does it not?

What about parents deciding to send their kids back to schools with zero precautions?

Should they be warned that COVID carries a significant risk of brain damage following infection, before deciding whether it’s a good idea to let their children catch it twice a year?

And if that information is quite deliberately kept from the public by the same bodies failing to provide collective mitigations, are you asking people to make “risk assessments”, or are you just pushing them to catch COVID?

Let’s review what the public has been told about cognitive damage after COVID by the CDC, the President, the administration, and prominent media figures.

The CDC’s twitter account has never tweeted the words “cognitive damage” or “brain damage” in reference to COVID. On March 23, 2023, the CDC twitter account posted its only reference to “brain fog”:

"Common symptoms of Long COVID include fatigue, shortness of breath, fast heartbeat, & brain fog. If several weeks have passed since you had #COVID19 & you still have symptoms that interfere with your daily activities, talk to your doctor."

The current CDC Director, Mandy Cohen, has never tweeted the words “cognitive damage,” “brain damage” or “brain fog.” Neither has former CDC Director Rachelle Walensky.

In interviews, Mandy, like the rest of the administration, likes to keep it vague. Brain damage is certainly not on the talking points menu; no specific outcomes are. We are “living with COVID”. We “have the tools”. She encourages vaccinations and not masks, the tool that can actually prevent infection. In a 2023 media tour about “rebuilding trust” with the public, she repeatedly refers to the pandemic in the past tense although the pandemic is ongoing according to the WHO.

Here’s an interesting one: former White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha has tweeted about COVID brain damage once: on June 17, 2021, ten months before he joined the administration. He’s since become a prominent minimizer who calls masking “fringe” and downplays post-COVID immune system dysregulation, but here’s what he had to say in June 2021:

"Important study out of UK

Worth your time

Researchers examined brain MRIs of people before and after they got COVID, matched with controls

What did they find?

Substantial loss of grey matter in those who had gotten but recovered from COVID

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.11.21258690v1 "

Wow! Seems like the kind of thing the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator would want to share with people, rather than never mention again.

And of course, the most subtle propaganda the Administration, fellow politicians, and CDC leaders employ is their refusal to mask or appear to mitigate COVID in any way. If each COVID infection carries a risk of brain damage, surely the Director of the CDC wouldn’t constantly show up in public spaces - including airport terminals- maskless?

The President famously wouldn’t even mask after testing positive for COVID, shortly before dropping out of his re-election campaign. He, certainly, has never talked about COVID’s effects on the brain (if indeed, he’s aware of them), instead using airtime to brag about defeating disease mitigation tools. “The pandemic is over,” he incorrectly stated in the fall of 2022, “if you notice, no one is wearing masks,” he went on to say, correctly identifying his success at stigmatizing COVID prevention.

Perhaps no single outlet is more responsible for the dishonest normalizing of continual COVID reinfections than the New York Times newsletter The Morning in the hands of David Leonhardt. During the mass death event of Omicron Wave 1, Dave was the main party responsible for the “omicron is mild” narrative (a lie) that spread round the world. This February, he “both sides’d” vaccinating children because, quote, “children are extremely unlikely to become seriously ill from Covid”. As recently reported by CBS News, up to 5.8 million kids have Long COVID.

Of course, it’s fantastic that CBS News is reporting on the damage that has been done to children by returning them to classrooms without upgraded ventilation or other mitigations. It would have been better if major media outlets had conveyed this risk before millions of children were disabled.

It’s also great that Bloomberg is reporting about the brain damage that can follow COVID, deep diving the research and putting forward three of the most compelling explanations for Long COVID. But how many people, nearly five years into the crisis, know anything about this topic? How many people who are three, four, five infections in, consented to these risks when they took their masks off?

Who is responsible for this ignorance? Is it not the public health bodies and politicians charged with responding to the virus?

In interviews and speeches, it’s not only cognitive damage that our elected leaders and public health officials fail to mention. President Biden has said the words “Long COVID” a handful of times publicly. Vice President Harris has never said them. Is this not bizarre to anyone who expects the Democratic party to convey scientific facts about the pandemic to the public? Is it not clearly an attempt to hide those harmed by the ongoing “let it rip” strategy from view?

When tens of millions of Americans are disabled by a virus on your watch, never uttering the name of the disease they have is deliberate, and leaves sufferers of Long COVID struggling with stigmatization in their personal lives. By enforcing silence around Long COVID at the top of the Biden Administration, in the CDC, and among media talking heads, the public is encouraged to doubt and dismiss the condition entirely.

If this administration is so certain the public would freely choose to ignore the millions suffering from Long COVID, the risks of infection including brain damage, the high rates of transmission in our communities, and continue to opt out of mitigations and mask wearing, why do they work so hard to hide all of the above?

Why do they, along with most other electeds on the Hill, pretend they have never heard the words Long COVID, refuse to acknowledge the ongoing toll of mass infection, and continue to push testing and data out of reach? Is this the behavior of leaders who are confident that the public has freely chosen to cruelly and deliberately abandon millions of people to long-term chronic illness, and to repeatedly risk joining them?

Or is it the behavior of leaders who know they are on borrowed time, sweeping the ever-growing body of evidence and ever-higher pile of victims under the rug while stubbornly repeating that “nobody is wearing masks”?

Scientists, advocates and reporters face an uphill battle getting information about the risks of repeated COVID infections to the public. It is uphill not because of the lack of studies, resources, victims, or voices, but because those who could do the most good continue to use their platforms to do the most harm. As long as the public receives the message from our leaders that recurrent COVID infections aren’t dangerous, the truth has a high wall of propaganda to hurdle.

Nevertheless, the truth continues to emerge via studies, articles, the people who’ve been harmed, and those who care. It’s unfortunate that our public health officials and politicians will be remembered for hiding the facts about COVID, rather than disseminating them.

[officeobject]

No original title:

tarnem-1

8h ago

tarnem-1 asked:

My name is Tarneem Sami, and I am from Gaza. My husband, Ahmed, was killed while trying to bring us food during this cruel war. Now I am left alone with my three children, struggling to keep them alive. We are living in starvation, with no food, no clean water, and no medicine. My children cry from hunger every day, and I have nothing left to give them.

Please, I am begging you—help me save my children from this unbearable suffering. They are innocent and do not deserve this pain. Any support, no matter how small, could save their lives. Please don’t let my children die from hunger.

🌿🇵🇸 #Palestine #GazaUnderSiege 🇵🇸🌿

Answer

mohammedayyads-blog

23h ago

mohammedayyads-blog asked:

‎‏I am mohammed ayyad of Gazans, living in very difficult conditions because of the war that the Gaza Strip is under. Since the outbreak of the war on the seventh of October we have been evacuating .

‎‏Then the journey of suffering and separation began,because my children were separated and evacuated from our home without covering or clothes., From here they became infected with diseases, and what increased our fatigue was the constant upbringing due to the different areas in which we were displaced, as we were displaced 9 times, and this was very expensive, the last of which was the 9th of this August from Hamad Town. In addition to that, we have lived in the summer season in a tent that did not exceed three meters, closed with nylon, so it is like an agricultural greenhouse atmosphere. It is very hot. All in all, we live difficult days that no human beings can afford

We have no work because of the war, and we do not have any kind of money and this is accompanied by a crazy and horrible rise in prices.

Although water is not suitable for drinking, this is the cause of many diseases

The last suffering is that we are out of Hamad without taking our purposes or our tents and now we are searching the earth in the roads and our children and our elderly parents are suffering..So we use direct donation including what they can or share links fully so people can know our tragedy and pain. Remember a small contribution can make a difference in the lives of many children who are dealing with their health condition all. Leave their details and make them happy with your generous contribution.

Answer

aiamaher2

23h ago

aiamaher2 asked:

This is me Aya.. ‏🇵🇸

Imagine you wake up with nothing left.That's exactly what happened with us .we moved from having everything to having nothing.In a blink of an eye ,we lost everything, our house ,dreams, memories belongings and our works. We are starting from zero and need your help to climb the leader step by step from scratch.

All the positive words cannot express how generous you are, especially in sharing my posts to inform other donors about the people of Gaza who are still suffering from the terrible conditions caused by the unjust war on Gaza!

Please continue to support us by donating directly or by sharing the link to let others know. Don't hesitate to help people in difficult and miserable times until the dark days are over. 🙏🏻🍉

https://gofund.me/c4c2cf82

Answer

majedgerbawi

23h ago

majedgerbawi asked:

To all Palestine supporters 🌍💙

We need less than 300$ to reach our short-term goal of 10,500$! 🚨💶

Your donations mean so much to us, and we truly appreciate your support, no matter how small. 🙏✨

We need you now more than ever. 💔🤲

Please help us reach our goal as soon as possible. 🕊️🌟

[random2908]

Every couple years I do a new google deep-dive on all my chronic illnesses to see what new studies there are, and what the scientific consensus seems to be.

Even for my essential tremor--a condition that was first named by the medical establishment 150 years ago--there's a lot that isn't known. For example, they know that for about half of people who have essential tremor, it's hereditary. They're pretty sure that when it is hereditary, it's simple autosomal dominant--a single bad gene just needs to be inherited from one parent. But they don't know which gene, according to most sources; and there's probably more than one that causes it in different families anyway.

Most important to me: how degenerative is it for people with childhood-onset? There's a study from (only) about a decade ago that looked at people with onset over the age of 50 (60?) and found that the later the age of onset, the faster it degenerated. This was so severe an effect that at age 90, someone with onset at age 80 (only 10 years of disease development) would be worse off than someone with onset at age 70.

But what if you had onset at, like, I don't know, age 12? (I don't know exactly when, because I actually don't really notice myself shaking. But 12 was the first time another kid said something to me about it.) How bad is it likely to get for me?

I can't find any answer to that. But what I did find is that for people with hereditary essential tremor (like I have), 20% have onset in childhood. And about 50% of people with essential tremor have it hereditarily (the rest just have it randomly). However, childhood diagnosis is very rare--for example, I was diagnosed at 32, and most people with childhood onset are apparently diagnosed in their 40s or 50s--because no one ever looks for this in children; everyone knows it's an old-age disease, so why would anyone look for it in children. So yeah, major under-studied population, unfortunately.

One study of 211 children diagnosed with essential tremor, none of them had it so severely that it affected their daily life at all. (That's me: a bit of a messy eater, but not so much that you'd think I had an actual neurological disorder.) But this is also a recent study, so there's no follow-up on what happens to them as they age.

Anyway, yeah, that's just for one particular condition I have. I have another condition, eosinophilic esophagitis, that was first named only 30 years ago, and it seems to get completely redefined and re-understood every 5-10 years. So that one I really have to stay on top of, because I can't even trust that all doctors have even heard of it, let alone know what the latest research says about cause and treatment. I was actually denied care once because a doctor thought that if it was drug-responsive it was fake, and she was (at the time) only five years out of date on the research in believing that; that's how fast the field is changing on this. (You know who knew EoE, though? My dentist. He said that's why I went from having only one cavity ever up until my mid-30s to having 1-2 new little cavities per year since then. Because EoE severely messes with mouth pH. Makes perfect sense, but you will not find that in the literature.)

And don't even get me started on migraines, which people have been writing about for literal millennia, but only found the physical mechanism for in I think like 2011, which led to the first-ever* set of preventative drugs becoming available in 2018. New information every year.

*There's this thing where sometimes people get positive side effects from certain meds. Prior to 2018, migraine treatment was about giving you a bunch of different meds to try--outdated anti-depressants, anti-seizure meds, heart meds, even mineral supplements--and seeing if you got a lucky side effect. (I actually did: one of the meds calmed my essential tremor, lol. Nothing worked for my migraines, though.) This is, incidentally, also what's going on with EoE: there's a fairly common lucky side effect where proton pump inhibitors act as local anti-inflammatories, calming down EoE symptoms. That's why some doctors--before they realized that PPIs can have that side effect--used to think that if you responded well to medication, you didn't really have EoE at all, you probably just had GERD and had been misdiagnosed. Even though EoE is diagnosed by biopsy and so isn't really fakeable like that.

[kifaya]

Hello, My name is Mohammed, and I'm from Gaza. I am not a robot or a scammer. The war in Gaza has left me with devastating memories and unbearable pain. I lost my parents and siblings in horrifying moments, and my life is now filled with tears and agony. I sustained severe injuries to my leg, and every passing day I feel the threat of losing it due to the lack of necessary treatment. 😭 My beloved wife is suffering from uterine cancer and has not been able to receive chemotherapy sessions since the beginning of the events in Gaza. My innocent children live in constant fear and anxiety, and I cannot bear to see their tear-filled eyes. I humbly and hopefully request your donation of $5 or more to treat my leg, save my wife's life, and secure the future of my children. Every passing minute increases our suffering and pushes us closer to the edge. My story is documented under the number 192, and my information is verified. You can verify this by requesting any information you need. Please donate and share my story with others. My wife, children, and I are waiting for your prayers and support with broken hearts and hanging hopes. Thank you very much.

Hi Mohammed! Of course I'll share

Mohammed is from Gaza, he's 32YO, he's married and he's the father of  three children: Abdulrahman, 6 years old, Sarah, 4 years old, and Lina, 3 years old.

Mohammed lost his mother, father, and four sisters who were killed in a bombing, and is now living in tents with his remaining family members, his wife and three young children. he was seriously injured in his foot and it may need to be amputated, but he doesn't care if he loses his foot he just doesn't want to lose his family.

His wife has uterine cancer but hasn't been able to get treatment recently because the genocidal israeli army has destroyed health centers. His children are suffering from infectious diseases spreading throughout gaza, and the little medical treatment available is very expensive.

Mohammed suffers from chronic asthma and severe attacks from tightness and an extreme allergy, and needs meds that are not available, or very expensive. His family lost their home, but they're still there and he's trying to protect them with all he has.

"My main goal with this donation is to protect my children, my wife, and our scaredy cat and evacuate them to a safe place away from the ongoing wars. The funds will be used to cross the Egyptian border and bring basic needs and treatments to create a more stable conditions for my family. Approximately $18,000 will be allocated for travel expenses, and around $6,000 for securing suitable housing for a couple of months. As for the medical treatment costs, the exact figure will be determined after undergoing examinations in hospitals in the Arab Republic of Egypt & it's gonna be in average $8,000. The remaining amount will be used to establish a small project to sustain our daily living, enabling me to provide for my children and wife.

My son, Abdul Rahman, has a deep passion for playing football and is a devoted fan of Real Madrid. He always dreamed of playing football at his school, but the war prevented this dream from coming true.

Where are you, Real Madrid fans?

Help Abdul Rahman achieve his dream."

THIS CAMPAIGN IS VETTED

[severaltulipsahead]

‎‏I am mohammed ayyad of Gazans, living in very difficult conditions because of the war that the Gaza Strip is under. Since the outbreak of the war on the seventh of October we have been evacuating .

‎‏Then the journey of suffering and separation began,because my children were separated and evacuated from our home without covering or clothes., From here they became infected with diseases, and what increased our fatigue was the constant upbringing due to the different areas in which we were displaced, as we were displaced 9 times, and this was very expensive, the last of which was the 9th of this August from Hamad Town. In addition to that, we have lived in the summer season in a tent that did not exceed three meters, closed with nylon, so it is like an agricultural greenhouse atmosphere. It is very hot. All in all, we live difficult days that no human beings can afford

We have no work because of the war, and we do not have any kind of money and this is accompanied by a crazy and horrible rise in prices.

Although water is not suitable for drinking, this is the cause of many diseases

The last suffering is that we are out of Hamad without taking our purposes or our tents and now we are searching the earth in the roads and our children and our elderly parents are suffering..So we use direct donation including what they can or share links fully so people can know our tragedy and pain. Remember a small contribution can make a difference in the lives of many children who are dealing with their health condition all. Leave their details and make them happy with your generous contribution.

You can find more information such as donation links in their account