Let’s Get The Facts Straight

September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month; and for patients it is not just another month in a new year to bring to the public’s attention a debilitating disease, it is another year to celebrate life.  The life expectancy for many who suffer from this inherited blood disorder is 40-50 years of age, and that statistic holds true for those who live in rural areas where there is no access to good doctors who are knowledgeable with the newest and latest technology, medicines, and procedures.  However, those patients who live in urban areas where they have access to doctors with the latest health care procedures, ongoing studies and research, and well equipped hospitals with people on staff who are well versed in the care and treatment of Sickle Cell patients are living well over 70-80 years of age.

 

This blood inherited disorder did not just pop up 20 years ago, this year marks the 100^th year anniversary (in this country) of the discovery, that is oh too often overlooked and disregarded.  In 1910, James Herrick in Chicago, IL discovered “early investigators emphasized that sickle cell anemia (SCA) patients have exercise limitations, may suffer shortness of breath at rest and orthopnea—particularly during crisis—and often have murmurs which require differentiation from other forms of organic heart disease. Cardiomegaly has been a frequent finding on clinical examination. The chest x-ray is an essential screening tool for causes of cardiopulmonary symptomatology, including tuberculosis, pulmonary infarction, pneumonia, pleural effusion, and pulmonary edema. Frequently noted findings on chest x-ray in SCA patients include generalized cardiomegaly, great vessel engorgement, prominence of the pulmonary artery, and right and left chamber enlargement.” (www.nmanet.org).

 

“Early investigators noted that SCA patients in the United States were almost always of African origin. Subsequent global epidemiological studies established that SCA and sickle-cell trait are present at high levels in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Saudi Arabian peninsula, central India, and certain parts of Southern Europe, Anthony Allison, an internist and epidemiologist working in Kenya, wondered how this mutant gene, which causes a deadly disease when present in two copies, could have reached such high levels in certain populations while being nearly nonexistent in other African populations (Allison, 1954). He reasoned that possession of a single mutant gene must confer a survival advantage and be positively selected at the population level. In particular, Allison linked the global distribution of sickle-cell trait to regions most affected by falciparum malaria, a parasitic disease that primarily affects RBCs. Malaria causes the death of approximately one million children per year, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010).”  (http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/sickle-cell-anemia-a-look-at-global-8756219)

 

As a patient who lives with this debilitating disease, in layman’s terms, is hundreds of years ago there was a bad outbreak of malaria in tropical and sub-Saharan areas caused by mosquitoes that was killing people in record numbers, but no one had a clue as to why?  The people affected, their bodies began to mutate into sickled cells (or cells shaped like a fourth of a moon) to protect the body from dying.  Well this is the only known disease that mutated its own red blood cells (that carry oxygen throughout the body) to keep the body from dying.  Over the years, people who carried these mutated cells mated with one another, not knowing that mating with someone else who possessed this mutated sickled cell would create babies who would have the disease also and/or carry the trait which would pass this disease on from generation to generation.  This disease is not only confined to the African or African American race there are so many other races that were affected by this mutated red blood cell disorder such as in Portuguese, Spanish, French Corsicans, Sardinians, Sicilians, mainland Italians, Greeks, Turks and Cypriots. Sickle cell disease also appears in Middle Eastern countries and Asia who share the same pains and effects of this disease that I and so many others share.

 

There is no accurate count of the population neither in this country nor beyond the borders of the United States that tells the story and the magnitude of this disease that has no sympathy on those who live with it.  How can you help?  First of all get tested at any Sickle Cell Foundation around the country (for free), secondly if you are not a carrier donate blood every chance you get, sign up to be apart of the bone marrow registry “Be The Match” that can save a life, and lastly volunteer your time, talent, and resources.  Many who live with this disease describe it as broken glass flowing through the veins and we consider ourselves as the forgotten few left alone to live in silence.  As I write this article, I am in the hospital with two central lines in both sides of my neck (as my blood was removed from my body and donated blood took its place), heavily sedated on lots of medication that may harm the baby I carry in my womb, yet still I write for those of us with no voice who live day to day with a disease that torments us with no defense on our part to change this terrorist in our bodies. 

By Tina Kay Hughes, Author of “TKay’s Inspirationals:  Walking In Your Season” www.tinakay.net   Also, founder & Board President of Chronic Illness Advocacy

I Used To Love You

The truth is we loved each other a long time ago and there is no way to get back what we once had.  At one point in my life I would do whatever you asked, I would go where ever you said go, I would hang onto your every word, and wait for you…longing for our next appointment with destiny…You would never miss a beat always saying the right thing when it needed to be said, always giving me what I wanted, always being there when I felt no one else was there for me…I pushed all my family and friends away so you could occupy every free moment in my life…I loved you, I depended on you alone, I waited in anticipation for you…what would our next thrill be and what would we do next to give me an adrenaline rush, I would sit on the porch looking down the street for your car to come along, I would watch my phone for your number to appear so I could hear your voice…I would check my computer for your messages and check the mail for just a simple letter.

 

But today, I look back on how I adored you and wonder was it adoration or simply stupidity on my part…You tricked me so many times….Your lies were like the words to my favorite love song…Your actions and touches would make me melt like an ice cube…You could sweep me off my feet with the I’m sorries and please forgive this and that and I would accept it because I loved and missed you…and I would fall head over heals for it each time, not knowing I was being literally pulled in to a dark hole with every thing I accepted and believed from and about you….

 

So I stand here in this deep dark hole where you’ve placed me while you prey on your next innocent and clueless victim…Here I stand, just me and darkness and I am looking up for the light that will guide me back to the only One who called and considered me His beloved.  I stand here alone thinking what have I done and how did I allow these tricks and lies to bring me to a hole for me to die a slow death all alone…but I began to call out to my Adonai (my God who is the Master of my life), El Shaddai (you are sufficient), El Roi (you see everything),  My God My God you are the comforter of my soul, you are the only One who can wrap me in your wings so that not even my feet are harmed or hurt the enemy…I cry out with a wail that I’ve never heard come out of belly before this day at this moment in time….I wail because I realize I’ve been bamboozled by the Master of Lies, Satan himself….he fed my flesh, brainwashed my thinking, and kept me running in circles so I would not understand or even recognize his plan of trying to take my life for his own…But what Satan failed to realize is, God planted a seed in my soul that could never be removed when I accepted Him so many years ago…he thought he could woo me, trick me, and leave me in a hole to suffer in silence…Satan did not know God already had a plan in place and a dance with destiny for my soul…Satan can trick you and lure you, but Jesus has already paid the ultimate price for you to belong to our Father if we would only accept Him…God takes even those of us who have hit our bottom who are looking up for the light…

 

You see my dance with destiny was my choice, but as I laid in that hole waling from the deepest place in my belly God heard my cry, and told me My Beloved I love you, I’ve never forgotten you and I knew you would come back to me as He held His arms out to embrace this wounded and broken soul….no longer confused but now I have a better understanding of unconditional love…God wants me no matter how I look or what I have to offer; whereas, Satan used my weaknesses to lure me into his traps….I thank God for taking me back and loving me with no conditions attached, and His forgiveness, huhh He throws all my shortcomings into the sea of forgetfulness….Yes God rescued me from that hole and He has never stopped loving me in and through all of my foolishness…He was only waiting on me to come to myself and realize no one or thing can ever love me like He can…Now I realize and recognize and I am very weary of those who come into my life….I ask God, should I allow this person into my space, my life, and my secret place….Now I wait for God to let me know who is good for me and who is not.  The truth Satan, is we loved each other a long time ago and there is no way to get back what we once had. 

By Tina Kay Hughes, Author of “TKay’s Inspirationals:  Walking In Your Season” www.tinakay.net

ANGELS DESCEND UPON THE CAPITOL CITY

‘The Fourth Annual “Sway’s Way Modeling” ALLURE OF STYLE Fashion Show entitled; “SWAY’S ANGELS” is Bound to Showcase the area’s most Heavenly Bodies

If we were all like angels, the world would be a heavenly place.  ~Author Unknown

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – On Sunday, August 22, 2010 Sway’s Way Modeling Agency will once again host the single most anticipated fashion event in the River Region. For years now, the Allure of Style fashion extravaganza has captured the imagination of the area’s most ambitious fashion designers, aspiring models, sought after photographers, and anticipating on-lookers.

Now, for the fourth and most exciting show of all, Sway’s Way founder Kenyetta Smiley is bringing the Montgomery area another taste of exquisite fashion – this time with an ‘angelic’ appeal. Smiley conceptualizes all of the themes to her annual fashion shows. From 2008’s Asian inspired “Shanghai Nights” theme complete with Geisha girls and traditional Asian garb, to last year’s exciting Mardi Gras in Montgomery theme complete with beads, masks, and a full marching band, Smiley said she is always pushing the limits of creativity for her productions.

“This year’s theme is an angelic one, of course, based loosely on the theme of Victoria Secret’s ‘Angels’ collection,” Smiley said. “I want  the ambiance to be very clean, light, soft – heavenly, in the sense that although there will be beautiful people, wearing gorgeous attire, it’s still radiant.” Smiley said her shows are always a mix of cutting edge fashion, make-up, and hair, but although the Sway’s Way cast carry’s the show, her main concern is making sure the audience has a wonderful evening.

“I owe it to the people who continually come out, year after year to support this production to put on the best show I possibly can. I don’t take it for granted that people are going to spend their hard earned money to come out and support this fashion show,” Smiley said. “I take the production, marketing, and professionalism of this show very seriously. This is not your run-of-the-mill, thrown together fashion show. Allure of Style stands out for a reason. Months of planning go into this effort and at the end of the day it shows.”

Last year, more than 1,000 people came out to witness this amazing display of fashion and splendor as designers from Montgomery, Birmingham, Atlanta, and New Orleans, displayed their latest wears on the runway. This year, designers including Perry Varner (DenHim and Leather),  Willie Shanks of Birmingham, and  will have their fashions flaunted by more than 30 of the most experienced male and female models from Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans and Alabama, along with scores of stylists, make-up artists, and designers.

For tickets or for more information contact Kenyetta Smiley at 334.322.3711 or swayswaymodeling@hotmail.com.

Fashion on Canvas Model Call :: More than a fashion show!

Fashion on Canvas: The Art of Fashion is looking for a selected group of diverse models to participate in it’s upcoming art themed fashion event. The second annual Fashion on Canvas will feature a creative combination of art and fashion in a gallery style format. While last year’s event was a huge success this year’s show will feature more body art, body ink and fabulous clothing!

Fashion on Canvas is more than a fashion show but an opportunity for models, designers and artist to come together and explore a more creative side to their craft and share their personality with the audience.

Participating artist will present a masterpiece using the body of the model and other creative and wearable art.

Showcase coordinators will be looking for models of various heights, sizes and experience levels.  Models should be at least 17 years or older to participate. Models with unique looks and distinctive tattoos (body art) are encouraged to participate.

In addition to the art gallery, body art and body ink on display local fashion designers including Perry Varner will display their latest clothing lines.

Model Call Dates:

Saturday, August 14, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010

Location: The Highland Conference Center Lounge, 2012 Magnolia Avenue in Five Points South.

Time: 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Interested models, artist and vendors should call (205) 939-4599 or email info@artonetherunway.com for additional information.

Fashion on Canvas: The Art of Fashion
Sunday - September 26, 2010
VIP Entry: 5:30 pm
General Entry: 6:30 pm
VIP Admission: $20.00 (Early entrance, light hors d’oeuvres and exclusive gallery showing)
General Admission: $12.00

I’m Just Saying

People love to preface a sentence with “I’m just saying”. It seems that people even have the nerve to say this at the most inopportune time! I’m just saying conotates “I told you so”, “You should have listened to me”, “Why did you do that anyway” or maybe even “That was stupid”. It is a slogan that really gets the listener on the receiving end on edge and angry. When I think of this slogan I think about Job’s ignorant friends and stupid wife! Job’s friends had the audacity to sit around for seven full days looking crazy at each other and at Job and then finally accusing him of doing something wrong. I can hear them saying “I’m just saying you must have done something to cause this wrath to come on you at this magnitude, but I’m just saying.” Job got so frustrated with all of their foolish talk and told them, “Don’t talk like a fool! If we accept blessings from God, we must accept trouble as well.” Despite all that happened, Job never once said anything against God, because he knew in his heart of hearts that God had his back. Job was unable to see the forest for the trees because he was having a valley experience and he recognized this. When you are in the valley you don’t know what’s going on or in the works outside of that valley. However, he was not content on pitching a tent and staying in that valley. Job placed his trust in God and only God because that was all he knew to do at that particular juncture in his life, and on that he stood; in trust, faith, hope, and believing in what he could not see with his own eyes or come to a conclusion with his own mind was not his final destiny in life.

We must be mindful of the people we bring into our circle, our space, and lives because they love to share and actually invite themselves to be apart of your life when things are well, but when things start making a turn for the worst there they stand with these words, “I’m just saying”. Sometimes we need to take that “I’m just saying” that is coming out of the mouths of other people into your life and rebuke it! Remove yourself from their presence, and tell them to get to stepping. This is what Job told his shallow wife and friends to do.

I’m just saying gets tired and old real fast when you are experiencing these valleys in our life. We must take note of the situation, pray, wait on God to move, and be patient that He has already worked out the kinks in this thing called life. You see a test is between you and God, while a trial is for everyone to see how you will react and respond in these valley experiences. When you are in the valley, don’t be still and set up a tent to stay there! These valley experiences test us, try us, give us more faith, and teach us to believe in God and not man. So, I’m just saying when you are in that valley take heed and note because you are being tested as you go through the trials in this life. You can remain there with those ignorant, unfaithful, unbelieving folks if you want—and you will be there for a long while. The other option is to never give up hope or faith and believe God always has your best interested at heart because He has called you His Beloved, and even engraved your name in the palm of his hand to remind Him of how much He loves you. So, remove yourself from those in your life who speak doom and gloom, just like Job’s close friends and family just like those who are doing the same in your life. God can provide you with new friends, new experiences, and a new life as you come out of the valley to the other side to see all He has always had in store for you, even before the beginning of time. He was just waiting on you to stop with the “I’m just saying” and allow God to say “I am saying”.

By Tina Kay Hughes Author of “TKay’s Inspirationals: Walking In Your Season” www.tinakay.net

Grill it! 3 mouthwatering barbecue recipes from Chef Jeff and other popular chefs

It’s summertime, which means it’s time to fire up the barbecue! Three respected chefs - Deac Tiley of Bub’s Bar-B-Que, Jeff Henderson of “The Chef Jeff Project” on the Food Network and “Diva Q” Danielle Dimovski - compete for the title of best griller.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Catch Chef Jeff in Birmingham, July 18, 2010 at the InFusion Art & Music Festival in Five Points South. For tickets and information call (205) 939-4599 or visit www.infusionbirmingham.com

Your Purpose & Your Health

How many of you feel that not living out what’s deep inside of you is literally making you sick?

You know what to do, but you simply have not the courage to live it out.  Day in and day out you are urged from within to take that dreaded first step onto the known yet unknown path.  The path is known because you see it in your mind’s eye, you feel it, you experience it as real and familiar.  Yet the path is unknown for you have yet to truly live by FAITH guided by the spontaneous leadership of the Spirit within.

Think about it.  Which is better, to allow your purpose to perish with you or to courageously take the first step in full confidence that if you keep the vision, persistently act from that vision, that you will see it manifested in physical form.  This is healthy living!

One Big Happy Family?

I am starting to have a serious problem with the cable channel TLC. I endured the miserable marriage of Jon & Kate + 8, and have an enduring soft spot for the tulle and beaded embellishments of Say Yes to the Dress. I have made no comment on the somewhat morbid fascination the channel has with the lives of little people, little couples, or those with extreme large families. But yesterday morning I happened to catch One Big Happy Family. It’s an inside look at the Coles, an African-American family whose combined weight tops 1400 pounds. “As big as they are, their love for one another is even bigger,” the show’s profile tells us.

Wow.

Rather than taking an interventionist’s angle, the series introduces us to this family in all their cholesterol-be-darned, “why no, 14 pancakes per person is not too many” excess. Norris (340 pounds), the stay-at-home father who believes dinosaurs still roam the earth, sports beaded cornrows and shops yard sales to post items on eBay. Older daughter Amber (348 pounds) struggles to keep up as a member of her high school’s colorguard and shares that “food is [her] drug,” Tameka (380 pounds) is the long-suffering matriarch who works two jobs, and baby boy Shayne (308 pounds) admits that he was eating “fried chicken before he was two.” Food is comfort for this family, and they need a lot of it: heaping platters of butter-drenched pancakes, greasy chicken wings, and gobs of cheesecake on Family Truth Night.

The episode I caught shows the family at the Wet ‘n Wild water park, and (big surprise) they exceed the weight requirements to enjoy the more exciting rides. “At least they are attempting to get some exercise,” I thought…but all they were able to do was coast down the wave pool in innertubes.

What is the point of this show? No medical professional steps in to offer to help this family with their obvious obesity. This issue is generational and I am a little disgusted with TLC’s exploitation of this family. We see almost every inch of the effects of their extreme weight gain, and there’s really no way around that. But why did the network choose a black family to feed into (no pun intended) the race-crossing stereotype of fat, jovial people? The episode I watched cuts to an image of Shayne in a pool, alone, waxing poetic about his image and “associates” (rather than friends). But he looks pretty lonely and unconvinced of his own swag to me.

Before I get lambasted for judging this family, let me make it clear that I am not saying they need to be borderline bougie or even unrealistically thin. My complaint is that TLC never shows the other reality show participants it features in situations that are this unflattering or insulting (I take that back: Jon and Kate were an unmitigated trainwreck). Yes, I realize that the Coles signed up to participate on their own. The end result of filming, however, is a little disturbing.

As a whole, obesity seems to be a laughing matter to the Coles family. They visit a doctor, but Shayne blows off the necessity of the visit. Upcoming clips indicate that this family will re-examine their diet, exercise and make a commitment to adopt healthier behaviors and lose some pounds. But I’m still troubled by the fact that when TLC chose a family of color to profile, they picked one that portrays us (compared to the other families and individuals they regularly spotlight) in such thinly-disguised contempt (you can view the bad wigs, doo rags, moobs, unflattering camera angles and more ridiculousness for yourself HERE and HERE). According to the network’s website, “no nutritionist or personal trainer” will be offering support, advice or guidance to the family, and with such in-grained bad habits, how can they possibly succeed?

Jon & Kate received plastic surgery, hair replacement therapy, multiple book deals and endorsements off their reality show ride. And this family can’t even get a home gym, a Subway tie-in or a visit from Dr. Ian?

Yeah, right.

I’m going to keep watching; it’s great to see a family that loves and supports each other as much as this one does, and in truth, they are humorous.  It would be to the Cole family’s credit if they can motivate each other to healthier choices and success all on their own.

One Big Happy Family returns to TLC this summer.

Love Is a Funny Thing

Love has a funny way of bringing emotions within you never knew existed to the top; like oil in a glass of water.  Trying to separate the two can be done but when it is separated something goes missing.  I’ve always wondered the Real meaning of Love instead of the text book meaning…When you know love, it’s something you can’t live without, it’s that thing you long for, it’s that funny feeling you can’t describe, it makes your heart race and your body quiver…I don’t know how to describe love but I don’t want to use the text book version nor the dictionary version, I want to use real live meanings…Something you can feel and you know without a shadow of a doubt that it is real.

 

In the movie Seven Pounds, there is a man who has found love once again but can’t allow the new love that has found its place in his life to experience the hurt, pain, and the possibility of not living a full life because he has a mission he feels must be accomplished.  So he gives of himself, which was his initial intension prior to meeting her, but along the way he fell for and in love with this woman who has a broken wing, and he never expected to fall in love, not like this, again.  Of course I love happy endings!  However, so she could live he gave his own life so she could live life to the full; but it is sad because she never has the opportunity to live life with him.  She’s left with could’ve, would’ve, should’ve which hurts more than loosing him.  What If? It just leaves you wondering.

 

Love is a funny thing, and sometimes you have to let it go and if it is yours and is really meant to be it will come back to you.  When people love they tend to carry a lot of baggage from past relationships to a current relationship, instead of dropping those bags of disappointment, anger, distrust, low self confidence, and all the things that would not allow new love to flourish into a new place, a new thing, and new realm of possibilities.  The bag I speak of should be left at the door as you enter a new relationship so you can allow those old wounds to heal, and just love.  God sends all kinds of people into our lives, who are sometimes angels in disguise just to show and teach us new things and help you move to a place of forgiveness so you can open your self up for love.  We underestimate God when it comes to the power of love, but we should just try God once to lead and guide you to a place where love is waiting for you and you alone.  By Tina Hughes (TKay)  Author of “TKay’s Inspirationals: Walking In Your Season”  www.tinakay.net

FREE Breast & Cervical Cancer Screening

Hello Sistah’s!  I’m sure that many of you know of at least one person affected by cancer.  Not having health insurance is one of the reasons why many of us don’t get checked regularly or have a new breast lump checked right away.   The unfortunate result is finding cancer at later stages with possibly lower survival rates.  Fortunately, there’s an easy solution that’s available today!

Did you know that uninsured Sistah’s, may qualify for a FREE preventive health visit at La MammaSpa?

That’s right!  If you qualify, you will receive a complete history, physical exam, BMI, waist measurement, pap smear, and mammogram, which is scheduled the same day of your exam absolutely FREE!  Furthermore, La MammaSpa offers low cost preventive health labs.  These labs allow you to learn more about your risks for cardiovascular disease.  These labs includes lipid levels, thyroid function, blood count, diabetes screening, urine analysis, and comprehensive metabolic profile.

If you have a finding suspicious of breast or cervical cancer, you will be referred either for additional screenings, to a participating breast surgeon, or to a participating gynecologist for diagnostic work-up - FREE!

So, stop worrying about getting breast cancer or that lump you’ve found in your breast.  Instead, get the facts.  Let’s see if you qualify:

• Sistah’s 40 - 64 may be eligible to get full screening; Sistah’s under 40 with breast complaints may be  eligible to receive breast cancer screening service only.

• No insurance or underinsured. Underinsured is insurance that does not cover cancer screening (i.e. mammograms) or has a high deductible that the you are unable to pay.

• Meet these Income Eligibility Guidelines

(Effective March 20, 2009, until revised)
Household Size      Annual            Monthly
1                               $21,660           $1,805
2                              $29,140            $2,428
3                              $36,620            $3,052
4                              $44,100            $3,675
5                              $51,580            $4,298
6                              $59,060            $4,922
7                              $66,540            $5,545
8                              $74,020            $6,168

Do you or someone you know qualifies?  If so, call for your appointment today, 205.783.7293.

Already diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer and uninsured?

If you meet these guidelines and have a diagnosis of breast or cervical cancer and haven’t started treatment, you need to apply for Medicaid for cancer treatment!  So, don’t hesitate, let’s talk soon:  205.783.7293, email La MammaSpa@live.com, or complete the contact information below.

PASS IT ON!  SAVE A LIFE!

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