In 2012, I came down with viral meningitis. Viral meningitis isn't supposed to be as bad as meningitis caused by other agents, but I ended up in ICU with kidney and lungs shutting down, and causing me to fall into a semi-conscious state. When I regained full consciousness (among other things), I found that I could not talk, breathe independently, nor move my legs.
I suffered damage to the spinal cord at the T4 level, and was told I may not walk again. Fortunately, that prediction did not come true, but I still have issues related to walking, and other issues which go with spinal cord injury.
Doctors were never able to positively determine the cause of the spinal cord damage, but I'm sure it is at least indirectly related to the virus that caused the meningitis.
There are many agents out there, and sometimes it takes years to figure out what caused the illness.
Here is story, about a basketball coach who was diagnosed with Q Fever, something that can be transmitted just by breathing the air around a birthing cow. How scary is that?
This story is from FoxNews.com
Basketball Coach's Mysterious Illness is Q Fever
Showing posts with label paralysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paralysis. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Friday, January 16, 2015
A Boy Who Said He Went to Heaven Made it Up - I'm Mad, but not at the Boy or his Family
When I first read the story below, I thought it was about he boy whose story was made into a movie last year. Apparently, there were three books in circulation about boys who "visited heaven."
This book is titled, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven. It is about a boy, Alex Malarkey, at the time, age 6, who said he went to heaven after a terrible car accident. His father wrote a book, which eventually became a best-seller.
The boy, now 16, has retracted his story, saying that he made it up to get attention.
I'm writing off the cuff, now, and I feel anger, but not at the boy, nor his parents. I can understand a six year old making this up to get attention. I can understand a father wanting to write this down and sharing what his son had said. I read that in the book, the father wrote that he found some of the stuff his son was saying was hard to believe - so there was no intention of deceit on the part of the father - he was just writing down what his son had said.
So, who am I mad at? Or why am I mad? The family made no money. The book is a New York Times Best-seller, and none of the profits trickled down to the family? It is hard to believe. What kind of arrangement did the father make? Was it a one-time fee for all rights? That's really the only way I can think of that would lead to this situation.
Bit even if his father signed away the rights to this book, the boy is severely paralyzed. It's pretty obvious that the medical bills - and bills related to healthcare are not only medical - but there are all sorts of incidentals that are not covered by insurance. So, even though the publisher(s) may not be legally obligated to help the family, it riles me that it seems that those who profited from the book did not extend any helping hand after the book became a best seller.
From what I also understand, despite the title of the book, very little of it is the actual description of heaven. Much of it is the struggles and coping when a child is stricken with a serious injury.
If I were the parents, I would write another book with their son. Leave out the actual descriptions of heaven, but include their spirituality, and talk about how they have coped with this situation for the last ten years - I'm sure a lot of people would still be inspired from their story, and would be interested in reading about it.
Anyway, here is the story from Daily Mail.com: "I Did Not Go to Heaven."
This book is titled, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven. It is about a boy, Alex Malarkey, at the time, age 6, who said he went to heaven after a terrible car accident. His father wrote a book, which eventually became a best-seller.
The boy, now 16, has retracted his story, saying that he made it up to get attention.
I'm writing off the cuff, now, and I feel anger, but not at the boy, nor his parents. I can understand a six year old making this up to get attention. I can understand a father wanting to write this down and sharing what his son had said. I read that in the book, the father wrote that he found some of the stuff his son was saying was hard to believe - so there was no intention of deceit on the part of the father - he was just writing down what his son had said.
So, who am I mad at? Or why am I mad? The family made no money. The book is a New York Times Best-seller, and none of the profits trickled down to the family? It is hard to believe. What kind of arrangement did the father make? Was it a one-time fee for all rights? That's really the only way I can think of that would lead to this situation.
Bit even if his father signed away the rights to this book, the boy is severely paralyzed. It's pretty obvious that the medical bills - and bills related to healthcare are not only medical - but there are all sorts of incidentals that are not covered by insurance. So, even though the publisher(s) may not be legally obligated to help the family, it riles me that it seems that those who profited from the book did not extend any helping hand after the book became a best seller.
From what I also understand, despite the title of the book, very little of it is the actual description of heaven. Much of it is the struggles and coping when a child is stricken with a serious injury.
If I were the parents, I would write another book with their son. Leave out the actual descriptions of heaven, but include their spirituality, and talk about how they have coped with this situation for the last ten years - I'm sure a lot of people would still be inspired from their story, and would be interested in reading about it.
Anyway, here is the story from Daily Mail.com: "I Did Not Go to Heaven."
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