| Book tells of parents for whom 'no cure' wasn't an answer
THE PEDIATRICIAN'S hands were trembling when he gave John and Aileen Crowley the devastating news about their 1-year-old daughter. Megan, he said, had an incurable genetic condition called Pompe disease. It would progressively weaken her until she died. There was no treatment. "I'm so sorry," he said, adding that the Crowleys' son, Patrick, only weeks old, should be tested also. As it turned out, Patrick had also inherited Pompe disease from his parents, both of whom appeared to carry recessive genes for the inevitably fatal condition. The Crowleys refused to give up. In "The Cure" (Regan Books, $33.50), Wall Street Journal reporter Geeta Anand chronicles the desperate efforts of John Crowley to find a cure for his children, while he and Aileen struggled to cope with the pain the disease was bringing them, their children and their marriage.
City drug trials to lead cancer fight
DOCTORS in Edinburgh are taking part in a £1 million trial to see if the household drug aspirin can deter the onset of a cancer which kills 7000 patients a year. Medical experts at the Capital's Western General Hospital will be testing to see if aspirin taken in conjunction with an anti-ulcer drug could prevent some patients from contracting cancer of the oesophagus. If successful, the treatment could prevent the rising numbers of patients who suffer from a condition called Barrett's oesophagus from going on to develop the disease. .
Trails center work transforms Casper man
He'd speak softly in public and sometimes rely on friends to start conversations in social situations.That was before he got a job at Casper's National Historical Interpretive Trails Center.Nearly four years of greeting visitors and giving tours has transformed Creger into an outgoing person who's eager to chat with strangers, whether at the trails center or on the Las Vegas Strip. "At first, I was kind of nervous about it," he said of his job at the center. "After I got into it, it turned out I really liked it."Creger, 47, has arthrogryposis, a condition that is similar to severe arthritis, without the pain. It contorts limbs and limits movement, and in Creger's case, forces him to use a wheelchair and rely on the help of others for tasks such as getting dressed or eating. He's had the condition from birth.Prior to the job, Creger was self conscious about his condition and not very receptive to meeting new people, said his father, John Creger."He always felt that people looked at him and stared at him," John Creger said.
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