Paul Herron and Anne Hodgkinson wake up every day knowing their daughter could die. Their 4-year-old, Katie, has cancer, and for the second time in her young life she is fighting to stay alive. Shes scared. Shes terrified, Herron told the Star from Torontos Ronald McDonald House, where the Cambridge family is currently staying so Katie can get treatment at the Hospital for Sick Children. For Anne and I, its been a parents worst nightmare. When Katie was just 15 months old, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. But after 25 months of intensive treatment, including lumbar punctures, bone marrow aspirations, chemotherapy and steroids, Katie fought the cancer into remission. Finally, the family thought, they could say goodbye to hospital beds and the hours spent pacing hallways waiting for results. Finally, they could be normal. But last November, the life they had built for themselves crumbled once again. The cancer was back, and this time Katie would need a stem cell donor. The first time, we never made it public. We kept to ourselves, said Herron. But because this time she needs a stem cell donation, we had to get the word out. No one in the family is … Continue reading →

A stem cell donor clinic for four-year-old Katie Herron will be held Feb. 22, 2014 at the Cambridge Sports Centre. FACEBOOK/Katie's Kure Four-year-old Katie Herron needs a stem cell donation to save her life. Her family hopes to find that donor at a clinic being held this Saturday. Katie is battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia and no one in her family or the national stem cell registry has been a match so far. Her parents Anne Hodgkinson and Paul Herron, along with an army of volunteers, are hosting a donor clinic at the Cambridge Sports Park, located at 1001 Franklin Blvd., from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday. Click here for the Facebook page with more information. Men and women between the ages of 17-35 can qualify to donate stem cells. The test is a simple cheek swab, and, if its a match, a blood or bone marrow sample will later be extracted. Anyone over 35 wishing to contribute is encouraged to donate blood, as patients waiting for transplants require frequent blood transfusions, according to the events Facebook page. This is the little girls second time dealing with a battery of tests, treatments and hospital stays. She was first diagnosed at fifteen … Continue reading →

By Marcus Johnson A drug that is currently being used to treat epilepsy has shown promise in helping drinkers consume less alcohol. A study conducted by the University of Pennsylvanias Center for Studies of Addiction treated patients with Topamax (topiramate). The study included 138 heavy drinkers and concluded that those drinkers were up to five times less likely than a placebo group to have a heavy drinking day after receiving treatment. They were also more likely than the placebo group to have a day of no drinking at all. Dr. Henry Kranzler believes the study shows the potential of Topamaxs use as a drug to help those struggling with alcohol. This study represents an important next step in understanding and treating problem drinking. Our study is the first we are aware of in which topiramate was evaluated as an option for patients who want to limit their drinking to safe levels, rather than stop drinking altogether. Our hope is that the study will result in additional research focusing to help patients who have struggled with heavy drinking and the problems it causes, but who are unable or unwilling to abstain from alcohol altogether. The study also found that there could … Continue reading →

A new strain of marijuana has motivated hundreds of families with epileptic children to pack up and move to Colorado to legally obtain the drug. The jury is still out on whether this special pot strain does indeed have measurable benefits, or if its even safe, but drug companies are racing to replicate its effects in pill form. The therapeutic pot strain, called Charlottes Web, is bred not have THCthe active ingredient in marijuana. Its namesake is 5-year-old Charlotte Figi, a Colorado girl who has Dravets syndrome. Charlotte reportedly went from having 300 seizures a week in 2010 to being virtually seizure-free two years laterafter connecting with a nonprofit that grows and produces an oilinfused with the special marijuana strain. Charlottes story has renewed curiosity among researchers in a particular chemical in pot, cannabidiol (CBD), which could have anti-epileptic properties in humans. CBD has shown some signs of promise of suppressing seizures in animals, but testing in humans is still in its infancy. A small number of case reports exist with conflicting results, and researchers have conducted just four placebo-controlled clinical trials that focused on CBDs efficacy as a treatment for epilepsy. Three of the four trials reported at least … Continue reading →