Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Aug. 29, 1985, edition 1 / Page 12
Part of The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
JULIETTE RIPPY »w4n active pfeadohm&nt Accordmg To Hippy, Maloney Tuberous Sclerosis I ,'/» *y Loretta Manage Poll Managing Editor Juliette Rippy la like moot pre adolescents. She leveo dancing, moddbgjKndJMEiduid Jackaon^But ,_, Jim Maloney has IBM for 21 yean. He is - field service support ex j peditor. Besides what seems like a # I quite average. BoU Juliette and Maloney have tuberous sclerosis. A disorder af fecting many organs, TS is often characterized by epileptic sottaros and varying degrees of mental re tardation. There are other aymp: toms of TS aa well. Reddish seed like bumps appearing across the (kin, wart-like growth* in On nail bed end yellowish-brown skin patch es that have the texture of an orange peel have all been characterised as symptoms of this disease. Because these latter symptoms aren’t likely • to affect those who have them in any significant way, many cases general population is one in 10,000 „ ; It took Juliette’s parents, Barbara and Julius Rippy, six years before their child was diagnosed as having TS. The years before the diagnosis was made were a living "igHtmsre for the Rippys. At birth, Juliette was usable to tree tb*. She was placed in an ieolette for several days. For the next eight months of her life, 1 Juliette kept Infections, high fevers and waa net able to control bar saliva. From time to time, white spots appeared on her body. Aa Juliette grew older, more symp tom* of TS were I* meal them ■ "I noticed one day that she would ■top and stare into apace and trem ble I could not gat any response and at other ttmae she would sleep ae much as 14 hours at a time,” replied wppy. . Almost aa trying as coping with her daughter’s health was the feet that doctors could not tail her what was wrong with Juliette. On one occasion Juliette was even disc nosed as having Scarlet Fever. Tbe Problems mounted. By Jubette’s fmb|bbrthday^she^had torn nil a little girl’s lege with glass and IIft* ed her 18 year old slater by her shoulders off thefloor. In eechcaae, responsive. Throughout this time, al though the Rippys kept the doctors Interned of Juliette’s condition, they never saw the trembling or the staring. Mrs. Hippy prayed that they would. Her prayers were answer ad when Juliette wee taken te neuro logist* for tests, altar having ex perienced three days ef seizures. - After the teeth* and observation was over, Juliette was duga*—a m having TS with seizure disorder, tubers on the retina and brain and a chronic allergy problem Although her problems are severe, Juliette is bidder than e lot of people who hove TS; she is not retarded and Al though she has bean taught from a vary early age not to have chil dren she can expect to live a fairly normal Ufa. Maloney was dagnoaod with TS at age eight. It wasn’t until he had married and his wife had given birth to their first child that ha realised the iaagers ef having children No one ever informed him of the possibility of having a child with TS, not even the Navy which atodied Maloney extensively whan ha enlisted in the service. It has bean discovered that persons with TS hove a one out of two chance ef passing TS onto their offspring Maloney’s firstborn, Robert, was born severely retarded. The disease varies In Its degree of * > symptoms, as well as whom it afflicts. A couple with no hteory of TS csn produce an offspring with TS /•Tw .•* ; .r-r J*. X ' '1 ! ' JlaMilWn - '^> ...IBM esecetivfr u well hi person with s history of the disease. What happens with two people who have had no history of TS is that a normal geoe changes to the abnormal form some time before conception. For U years, Maloney and his wifr cared for tbsir son Robert Being as retarded as. he is, they ended op caring for Robert ss they would a, newborn. Aside from the constant sssnaWHKs;' epileptic seizures, would net harm himaelt . -TvJI In the last two years, Robert baa been placed |n Howell’s Child Care Center. Having him placed there was a tough decision for both Maloney and his wife. “We knew - Wal the people at the Child CarC-' Center could give him the round the dock attention be needed, they would also know far better than me or my wife when certain medicines needed to be changed or dosages needed to be increased or re duced. Robert used to have any where from 400 to 1,000 seizures a month; now he has only 40 to SO per month.’’ Aside from the expert care Robert gets at the Center, Maloney said that he and Ms wife had to consider the nonds of their second child, Michael. “We wanted to pro vide him as normal abomesetting as possible. Michael is seven. Up until lately Michael had shown no signs of having TS. “He has re cently begun to show white apots,” remarked Maloney If Michael is lucky, having TS, if he is diagnosed as such, will only f mean having to have occasional laser treatments td reduce the patches that sometimes develop °° the skin. That Is v the extent of Maloney's medical care, and even .jUmtjj optional. S*an will b* th«rtwh«n you nooH lift Juftt rfllll •■WWM Vt • • • OVll WWlll You can count On Soars for... N/nMwMmviai ' ✓ **^” wnssnni w ouimmimi so%*orr a«~ZL ao%*owra«ss^» ♦Wxn Inttalhd By Sw>r» Authohnd Irmtplbn UTMUWlOmmilMlWT !., '|«Sp» Wl U .. , -r R|li you CRMt |w|l) fSwOs Oltl|MClal Si MaRSdAMl I SOUTH?ARK 364-7550 I EASTLAND and SOUTH?ARK - CHARLOTTE . # Lemers’ Gift Aids Diabetes By David Roberson l- ; DebtMedicalCenter >•*' Special To The Post Durham • A machine that acta aa a an artificial pancreas will soon be come a tool In diabetes treatment and research at Duke University >100,000 from Morton and Bernice Lerner of Salisbury. The machine, known aa a glu cose controller, is a computer controlled device that continually monitors a patient's Mood sugar level and automatically infuses in sulin and gluoaae to keep blood sugar at the level set by tbs pa- • dent's physician. "It's a tremendous treatment and research tool,” said Dr. Mark N. Feinglos, assistant professor of endocrinology and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry. People with diabetee have a con dition in which insulin, a substance normally produced in the pancreas and necessary for the body to use sugar for energy, is either pro duced in insufficient quantities or simply fails to work properly. “The problem in diabetes is that the way we administer insulin is pretty crude compared to normal body mechanisms," Feinglos said. Repeated blood sugar teats and multiple Injections of insulin may be needed to adjust blood sugar to the proper level, and activities such aa exercise or eating cause that level to fluctuate. Vi.' .. v - 1 The glucose controller, the first In this area, will be used to help treat patients with acute or poorly controlled diabetes, Feinglos said. In such cases, the glucose con troller WO) be used to help de termine and establish proper Mood sugar levels while freeing the patient of the often frustrating series of blood samplings and injections . previously needed for the diagnosis. Proper insuline doses for a pa tient can be determined by a day long treatment with the machine in most cases, Feinglos said, after which those doses can be admin istered in regularly scheduled in jections. The machine, which reeembies a two-foot-square box attached to a complex set of I V.’a, will be twed about equally for patient treatment and experimental purposes. “There are a number of research projects thip la potentially useful for when s patient doesn’t need it,” Feinglos said. . J , In addition to tbs $80,000 purchase cost of the machine, the Leroers’ gift also provides funds for two <15,000 fellowships to support research with the glucose controller over the next two years. The Lamars both have a family history of diabetes, and their daugh ter, Dena, a former Duke student, is being treated by Feingloa for dla The family has numarous other ties to Duke. Bernice la a 1903 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of tbe uni versity. Older son Richard had a heart valve replaced at tbe hospital, and younger eon Mark la complet ing his second year in the School of Medicine. Dena, whose college career was Interrupted by compli cations brought on by flare-ups of her diabetes, plans to resume her ^.' 1 -- undergraduate studies at George Washington University, but hopes to return to Duke for medical .Morton, president of Letterl Shoes, Inc. of Salisbury, is a long-time Duke athletics fan and gram *110 °and* &emice'lare Ttt year participants in the Duke Children’s CUssic, which raises funds for the Department of Pe diatrics. "I guess everything sort of played a hand in our doaeneea to Duke," he said. "We have a lot of affiliations to the total medical pic ture at Duke. There are some strong attachments. ■. —| Slacks Compare at *35*5 '£ \ rlfmiSil9 T9W licitili / \ rlfMlf wTlilllCM OPEN DAILY 10 AM-8 °M # SAT 8 AM-8 BACK TO SCHOOLI Excellent values on over 5,000 pair* of selected shoes for the entire family, including all major brands. 10 TOP IfATHBK WM,To3rtSiNAVY
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 29, 1985, edition 1
12
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75