Ansonia family sets up GoFundMe for mother fighting COVID-19

Sharing post from Lillian Outlaw:

"My mom, Charmain McFadden, has been battling Covid-19 since December. 

"She is currently fighting for her life in ICU, sedated, on a ventilator. Covid has also caused blood clotting, pneumonia, and a bacterial infection in her body. Today we received a call that she will most likely not make it - BUT we have a God that is able. 

"Our mom is an essential worker at Yale New Haven Hospital, a mother of seven sons and a grandmother of 10. She is also a sister, a wife, an auntie, a cousin, a friend to many and a peacemaker to everyone around her. She is a follower of Christ and lives for her sons and grands. 

"This fundraiser is being made so that when she comes home, she doesn’t have to rush back to work. She has several preexisting conditions and we don’t want her to be as risk any longer. This will help her pay her car payment, utilities, rent, etc.
"If the worst case scenario happens, which we are praying it won’t, all of the funds will go directly to taking care of her youngest sons. It will go to their housing, their bills, food, and education.

"I know we are just some random family that you may not know, but this is our mom. We ask that if you cannot donate, please pray for a miracle. Please pray for her lungs to begin working on their own and her body to have full and complete healing. 

"We also ask if you cannot donate, please share this so maybe someone will see it and donate. 

"Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts." 

Here's the link: https://gofund.me/70be9700 

Shelton woman, 32, seeks liver donor to help save her life

Newsletter: O'Brien students create cranes for cancer patients, Derby Day

Dear readers,

Today's Valley Voice newsletter features Emmett O'Brien Tech students creating paper cranes, Derby Day photos, more.

Thanks for reading!

Patti

Newsletter highlights grand opening at Basement Systems in Seymour

Dear readers,

Today's Valley Voice newsletter highlights innovative entrepreneur Larry Janesky and a celebration of the opening of his ninth building in Silvermine Industrial Park in Seymour.

It also features my journalism mentor and longtime editor Bob Pollack's reaction to attending a press conference at Yale-New Haven Hospital that announced my participation in an 18-kidney exchange.  

Thanks as always for reading,

Patti

Kidney disease runs in the family ~ I wish I could run from it

I didn't post anything today because I was "out of town" for a while, and away from my computer.

My husband, Ralph, and I spent more than seven hours at the transplantation clinic at Yale-New Haven Hospital. 

We learned about kidney transplants, nutrition, medications, and had private consultations with several health professionals. 
I had an EKG and chest X-ray and gave what seemed like a lot of blood, twice.

I have PKD - Polycystic Kidney Disease - which is an unfortunate family trait. I wrote about it here in October, and again here in February. 

Two wonderful people have offered to give me a kidney, but we have no idea if either of them will be able to do so.

My nephrologist referred me to the Yale clinic to get started on a journey that I know many, many people have taken before.
There were more than 17,000 kidney transplants performed in the United States in 2014, which is a much bigger number than I had thought.

In March I published a month of posts to help raise awareness of PKD. I hope it did.

Ralph and I now are armed with more information and a better sense of what this journey will eventually entail.

It's not easy to write about myself. I take that back...it's easy to write, just not easy to hit the "publish" button. But I'm about to do so.

Thanks for reading.

Lemonade stand in Shelton raises $1,500 for cancer hospital

Kudos go out today to three Shelton girls who ran a lemonade stand Saturday and raised money for an important cause.

Twins Alex and Emma D'Amico, 11, and their friend, Megan Loiacano, 10, collected more than $1,500 in donations. The money will go to Smilow Cancer Hospital, a part of Yale New Haven Children's Hospital.

Their parents must be quite proud of them! Great job!


Read the story by New Haven Register correspondent Jean Falbo-Sosnovich here.

DeLauro calls negative Ebola result 'great news'

NEW HAVEN - U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, released the following statement today on the news a possible Ebola case at Yale-New Haven Hospital has come back negative in preliminary tests.

Further tests will be done tomorrow to confirm that initial result.
“The preliminary negative result is great news," DeLauro said.
"Credit needs to be given to Mayor Harp, Yale-New Haven Hospital, city and state health officials, and police, fire fighters and emergency responders who have been involved. But we must not allow this to lower our defenses. Every precaution needs to continue to be taken when a possible case arises. I will continue to stay in close communication with state and federal officials to ensure that our guard is up and Connecticut is prepared for whatever may happen in the future.

DeLauro is the senior Democrat on the subcommittee responsible for funding the CDC and National Institutes of Health. She has called for that subcommittee to hold a hearing on budget cuts to those agencies in light of the ongoing Ebola outbreak and has yet to receive a response.

More information on the cuts can be found here.



This is a press release from DeLauro's office.

DeLauro issues statement on unconfirmed Ebola case in New Haven

NEW HAVEN - U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, released the following statement today on the unconfirmed Ebola case at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

DeLauro has been in contact with officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today, and attended a press briefing on the situation.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the individual and family impacted by this unconfirmed Ebola case. Later this afternoon we should receive preliminary test results from the Laboratory Response Network, which is supported by the CDC. I am encouraged by the cooperation among health, state and local officials; first and emergency responders; and Yale-New Haven Hospital staff. But we must continue to take every precaution to protect our medical workers and stop this from spreading. Since the outbreak began I have been in constant communication with officials at the NIH and CDC.

“As the senior Democrat on the subcommittee responsible for funding the NIH and CDC, I have fought for more resources for those agencies. We are seeing now how crucial they are, as they are in the lead on responding to the Ebola crisis. Unfortunately, federal support for these programs has dwindled due to budget cuts over the last four years. The NIH’s purchasing power has been cut by 10 percent over the last four years. The CDC program that supports the lab doing the testing has been cut by 11 percent over the last four year. The Health and Human Services program that supports local preparedness has been cut by 44 percent.

"As NIH Director Francis Collins has said, we would be much further along on an Ebola vaccine if it were not for these cuts. National preparedness efforts have been damaged as well. We need to reverse this trend.”

DeLauro is the senior Democrat on the subcommittee responsible for funding the CDC and National Institutes of Health.

She has called for that subcommittee to hold a hearing on budget cuts to those agencies in light of the ongoing Ebola outbreak and has yet to receive a response.
More information on the cuts can be found here.

This post is taken from a release from DeLauro's office Thursday afternoon.