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Boy missing part of his brain baffles Doctors

Boy Without a Cerebellum Baffles Doctors

Feb 12, 2011 ? 1:42 PM

Lisa Holewa

 

Heather and David Britton want everyone to understand a few things about their giggling, bespectacled 3-year-old son, Chase.

"He's happy. We call him the Little Gremlin. He loves to play tricks on people. He loves to sing. His goal in life is to make people smile," Heather Britton told AOL News.

"He's got so much love around him. We're an extremely happy family. His story is not tragic."

But to an outsider, the Brittons' story might seem heartbreaking.

Another son, Trey, was born 11 weeks early and only expected to live moments. Instead, he died six weeks after his birth in 2008, on the same day he was scheduled to receive a liver transplant. Cleared to get pregnant again, the couple was thrilled when Chase was conceived, Britton said. They were eager to give older son Alex, 13, a sibling.

Chase was also born prematurely, and he was legally blind. When he was 1 year old, doctors did an MRI, expecting to find he had a mild case of cerebral palsy. Instead, they discovered he was completely missing his cerebellum -- the part of the brain that controls motor skills, balance and emotions.

"That's when the doctor called and didn't know what to say to us," Britton said in a telephone interview. "No one had ever seen it before. And then we'd go to the neurologists and they'd say, 'That's impossible.' 'He has the MRI of a vegetable,' one of the doctors said to us."

Chase is not a vegetable, leaving doctors bewildered and experts rethinking what they thought they knew about the human brain.

"There are some very bright, specialized people across the country and in Europe that have put their minds to this dilemma and are continuing to do so, and we haven't come up with an answer," Dr. Adre du Plessis, chief of Fetal and Transitional Medicine at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., told Fox News affiliate WGRZ.

"So it is a mystery."

Chase also is missing his pons, the part of the brain stem that controls basic functions, such as sleeping and breathing. There is only fluid where the cerebellum and pons should be, Britton said.

Britton's pregnancy was complicated, so doctors closely monitored her. Deepening the mystery, she has detailed ultrasound pictures of Chase's brain during various stages of fetal development and the images clearly show he once had a cerebellum.

"That is actually a fundamental part of the dilemma," du Plessis told WGRZ. "If there was a cerebellum, what happened to it?"

Doctors found no signs of a brain bleed, hemorrhage or stroke, and no damage to any other part of his brain, Britton said. Technically, his diagnosis is cerebellar hypoplasia, which normally means a small cerebellum rather than a missing one.

Chase's case, du Plessis said, challenges "fundamental principles." And its impact is certain to reach far beyond one little boy and his family.

"It is cases like this that rally the support of the medical community, that harness the interest of other investigators, that stimulate people to try and find solutions," he told WGRZ, "and those repercussions will have an impact on a much broader population of kids."

But what the Brittons know is this: Chase eventually managed to sit up on his own, something he shouldn't have been able to do without a cerebellum to provide balance. Next he learned to crawl, first dragging himself military-style, then pushing himself upright. Now, he's learning to walk.

"He keeps going," his mom said. "He keeps picking up new things and progressing. We call it, 'Chase pace.'"

In the fall, Chase started going to a specialized preschool near his New York home three days a week.

"I'm in awe of him every day," Sharon Schultz, his teacher at CHC Learning Center in Williamsville, N.Y., told WGRZ.

"Things that, based on that diagnosis, he should not be able to do, he is doing. I mean, walking up and down the hall, riding a bike, holding a pencil or a pen to work on projects, using scissors."
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Chase also loves to play on his Ipad with doting brother Alex. A team of therapists has been working with him since he was an infant, and he has a special "sensory room" at home full of lights and sounds and tactile things -- like mirrors -- to visually motivate him, Britton said. Soon, she hopes he can begin horseback-riding therapy.

"We're throwing as much at him as possible to make sure he's as stimulated as possible," she explained.

Her message, she said, is simple: "Don't give up on your kids."

"Don't believe everything the doctors say. Don't get me wrong. I love doctors. But they can be wrong. ... Chase is extremely healthy. And he's extremely smart -- his motor skills just haven't caught up," she told AOL News.

"People could view this as a tragic story. But that depends on how you look at life. You can be angry or you can appreciate what you have been given," she said.

"Chase was meant to be with us."

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.www.wgrz.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=785198266001

Entry #3,950

Girl born with 12 fingers and 14 toes

With 12 fingers, 14 toes, girl from Myanmar reaches for a world record

Sixteen-month-old Lei Yadi Min plays on a chair at her house in South Okkalarpa township on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011. The Myanmar girl was born with six fingers on each hand and seven toes on each foot on Oct. 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win) (Khin Maung Win, AP / February 15, 2011)

 

Associated Press

12:45 a.m. EST

February 16, 2011

 
YANGON, Myanmar (AP)  A mother in Myanmar says her baby girl's 12 fingers and 14 toes have been no disadvantage  her grip may even be stronger than normal  and now she's grasping for a Guinness record.

Phyo Min Min Soe, 26, knew her girl Le Yati Min had a little something extra since nearly the moment she was born.

"I asked the nurses whether my kid was born complete with hands and legs," says her mother. "They replied that the baby even has more than she needs."

Born with 12 fingers and 14 toes, Le may be the most "digitally enhanced" person in the world. Now, the 16-month-old girl's family in impoverished Myanmar is seeking a Guinness World Record to prove it.

A neighbor is helping her mother apply to claim the record hearing that a boy from India currently holds bragging rights for the most digits, with 12 fingers and 13 toes.

Polydactylism  being born with an extra finger or toe  is fairly unusual, but it is even more rare for someone to have spare functional digits on both hands and feet, as Le does.

Le lives with her family in a small wooden house on the outskirts of the Southeast Asian country's former capital of Yangon, where she runs around with seven toes on each foot.

Proud mom Phyo Min Min Soe, 26, said Tuesday that she'd be happy to see Le gain a world record, but even without that, her daughter already has a happy life, and even some natural advantages.

"She seems to have a stronger grip on things  so she doesn't drop things much," she says, as Le plays nearby with a mobile phone.

According to the Guinness World Records website, the record for most fingers and toes for a living person is currently held by two people in India, who have 12 fingers and 13 toes each.

Dr. Craig Camasta, a surgeon in Atlanta, Georgia, said many parents of babies with polydactylism choose to have an operation to get rid of the extra fingers or toes to avoid social stigma, but that "It's not necessary that the extra digits be removed."

LINK TO VIDEO:

 http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videobeta/0e9fc714-2abd-4ade-ab17-e8c4cac9f30a/Technology/Girl-with-12-fingers-14-toes-aims-for-a-record

Entry #3,948

Police officer paid 7 years not to work

Davie paying officer to not work  for 7 years

Kevin Kilpatrick was put on paid leave after rift with department's top brass, his attorney says

Davie Officer Kevin Kilpatrick

Officer Kevin Kilpatrick has been fired twice by the Davie Police Department and won his job back both times, once through arbitration and once through a federal court settlement. (Davie Police Department, courtesy)

 
Susannah Bryan

Sun Sentinel

6:30 p.m. EST

February 15, 2011

 

DAVIE

The Davie Police Department hasn't let Officer Kevin Kilpatrick report to duty for seven years  but still pays him $80,275 annually.

He has made more than $550,000 for not working.

Kilpatrick, 41, has been investigated on accusations involving a domestic abuse call cover-up as well as a DUI charge. The department fired him twice, and twice he won his job back  once from an arbitrator, once from a federal judge.

"There was nothing wrong with him," said Romin Currier, Kilpatrick's attorney. "This guy was completely railroaded by the department." 

Under the settlement in the federal case, Kilpatrick was supposed to return to work and get a job behind a desk.

Kilpatrick, who was hired in February 1994, has said all along that he wanted to come back to work. But his attorney says the town has put "hoops" in Kilpatrick's way, insisting that he complete a polygraph even though that was not part of the settlement. Town officials have since backed down, but are now requiring him to complete his recertification as a police officer so that he can return to work.

Town officials have argued that Kilpatrick is "permanently unfit for duty," based on the opinion of one psychologist given in December 2007. The officials say they worry the "unfit for duty" finding could make the town liable in court if Kilpatrick got involved in a shooting, Town Attorney John Rayson said.

But a more recent opinion from a psychiatrist selected by the town's pension board disputes that earlier finding. Given in August 2008, it says Kilpatrick is indeed fit for duty and able to work as a cop both mentally and physically.

"Do you think the town wants to pay him to sit home on his fanny?" Rayson said. "The town wanted him back to work, but in dispatch or a desk job. The town is in kind of a Catch-22. The town is duty-bound under the [settlement] agreement to pay him."

Through his attorney, Kilpatrick declined to comment.

By all accounts, Kilpatrick was an exceptional police officer with an impeccable record. He won high praise from supervisors during his first 10 years with the department. He was quickly promoted to K-9 officer, served on the SWAT team and also worked undercover as a narcotics detective.

Currier says the department's top brass targeted Kilpatrick after a rift developed in 2003 between him and Police Chief John George, who has since retired and could not be reached for comment.

According to court records, George placed Kilpatrick on paid leave in October 2003 over complaints about "actions you have taken toward your fellow officers" and launched an internal investigation into whether he violated a direct order to stay away from members of the department's Special Investigation Unit. The case ended with a finding that he violated lawful orders.

While still on paid leave, Kilpatrick became the subject of another internal investigation, into an alleged DUI. A jury found him not guilty in September 2004 but, after an internal affairs investigation into the incident, the chief fired Kilpatrick the following February for violating department policy.

A year later, an arbitrator ruled Davie was wrong to terminate Kilpatrick and reduced his discipline to a 10-day suspension. The arbitrator awarded back pay and restored Kilpatrick's benefits and seniority.

Still, the town wouldn't let him go back to work. As court records show, Kilpatrick had already been found fit for duty in two separate psychological exams, but officials insisted he had to pass another one, given by an expert picked by the city. Meanwhile, he remained on paid leave.

This time, the psychologist found Kilpatrick "permanently unfit for duty." Based on that, the department fired him again in January 2008.

Kilpatrick filed a federal lawsuit in May 2008, arguing that Davie had violated his federal rights. The town settled in August 2009, agreeing to reinstate him and pay him $300,000 in back pay and attorneys' fees.

But to this day, he remains on paid leave, not allowed to work. Davie is still negotiating the terms of his employment, the town attorney said.

Rayson said Police Chief Patrick Lynn has resisted putting Kilpatrick back to work because Lynn "believes there are ambiguities in the settlement agreement and he wants clarification. But if we go back to court for clarification, it will cost the town more money. I say enough with going back and bothering the judge. There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to get him back to work."

In the meantime, Kilpatrick has continued to collect yearly raises and benefits negotiated by the police union over the past seven years.

Kilpatrick has agreed to retire in February 2014, when he is eligible to receive his full pension.

"He's more than happy to go back to work or take the retirement," his attorney said. "He doesn't care."

Entry #3,947

Pregnant Inmate Wants Maternity Leave

Pregnant Inmate Wants Maternity Leave

Baby-sitter arrested, charged felony child endangering

Tiffani Calise, 21, of Briarwood, was taken into custody on Tuesday by Summit County sheriff's deputies and charged with felony child endangering after a child she was baby-sitting was found to have suffered from bleeding on the skull. (August 11, 2010)
 

KTLA News 1:48 p.m. PST, February 16, 2011

AKRON, Ohio -- A pregnant woman awaiting trial in the death of a toddler she was babysitting is requesting maternity leave from jail.

Tiffani Calise, who is 8-months pregnant, has been in jail since August on $500,000 bail.

The 20-year old has pleaded not guilty in the death of 23-month-old Aaliyah Ali.

Last August, Calise called paramedics claiming the baby was not breathing.

"The babysitter claimed she went to get something out of the closet and left the victim in the bathtub. She heard some noises when she came back the child was limp, she then called 911," said Summit County Sheriff Deputy William Holland.

Deputies say after the baby was taken to Akron Children's Hospital they learned the toddler's injuries were inconsistent with the babysitter's story.
Entry #3,945

Girl, 2, duct-taped mother charged

News

UPDATE: Mom charged in duct-taped baby case

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 

ROSE QUINN

Delco Times

 

CHESTER TOWNSHIP  The 21-year-old mother of a baby seen duct-taped in a photo posted on the Internet has been charged with in connection with the bizarre photo.

Caira Ferguson, of the 1200 block of Elson Road in the Toby Farms section of the township, has been charged with recklessly endangering and corruption of a minor, Nether Providence police said.

She was charged after being questioned Wednesday afternoon by Nether Providence Township police.

Ferguson told investigators in a statement that the incident was not a joke, as some theorized, but that she did not know why she bound the child's hands and legs, as well as placing a gag over her mouth.

The investigation was taken over by Nether Providence police because that is where the incident allegedly took place last summer.

Ferguson was first taken into custody by Chester Township police on outstanding warrants not connected to the photo.

Ferguson was arraigned via video by Magisterial District Judge C. Walter McCray on one count of false imprisonment, one count of unlawful restraint, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

She was remanded to Delaware County Prison without bail.

McCray declined to set bail in the case, something usually reserved for homicide charges.

It is believed that county child welfare officials were at the home with Chester Township police Wednesday afternoon.

The status of the child is not known. The Delaware County Office of Children and Youth Services issued a statement indicating they were cooperating with Chester Township Police in their investigation, but that the state's juvenile law prohibits them from commenting on specific cases.

"It is the mission of Delaware County Children and Youth Services to provide for the safety and protection of children," the statement reads. "It is the agencys responsibility to carry out the Child Protective Services Act under the auspices of the court. The court is utilized to ensure the safest remedy for each child and CYS works under the court to ensure that no childs protection is compromised."


The photograph of a young child clad only in a diaper and bound to a chair by long strips of duct tape wrapped tautly around her wrists and ankles, with a smaller piece taped across her mouth, is clearly disturbing, Police Chief Ken Coalson said Tuesday.

Since police became aware of the photograph three days ago, Coalson said an investigation has been ongoing to determine possible child abuse, and if so, who might face criminal charges.

Our concern is who did it, was the mother (allegedly) involved and where did it occur, the chief said.

A woman in the photo appears to be posing behind the bound child, her hands clutching the childs arms and her head resting on the childs shoulder.

According to Coalson, she is the 21-year-old mother of the child, a 2-year-old girl. They reside in the Toby Farms section of the township.

Police believe the duct-taping incident occurred during the summer. As such, any visible injury the child might have suffered when the tape was removed would have healed.

We have had contact with the child, Coalson said.

Coalson said investigators became aware of the photograph when the mother arrived at the station to report an identity theft.

Its disturbing to look at, he said.

He indicated that the woman told the officers she was not responsible for posting the photograph on a blog known as  MediaTakeOut.com.

She told us that it is her in the photograph, but that she did not post it, Coalson said. She said someone else stole her identity and posted it.

According to Coalson, the image received 337,000 hits before it was removed from the site.

Coalson said officers are investigating both the photograph and possible identity theft.

He also said a report was provided to Delaware County Children and Youth Services.

Caira Ferguson: Duct-Tape Baby Photo Leads to Arrest by Jordan Yerman

 

LINK TO PHOTOS OF MOTHER:

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2011/02/16/news/doc4d5b53c40115f708599753.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Entry #3,944

TSA agent admits to stealing from passengers during security checks and taking bribes

TSA agent Michael Arato admits to stealing from passengers during security checks, taking bribes

Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, February 15th 2011, 12:43 PM

Michael Arato, a TSA agent at Newark airport, pleaded guilty to stealing from passengers and accepting kickbacks from a subordinate who did the same.

 Richards/GettyMichael Arato, a TSA agent at Newark airport, pleaded guilty to stealing from passengers

 and accepting kickbacks from a subordinate who did the same.

  Prosecutors said Michael Arato and the subordinate, who was not named, targeted foreigners leaving the U.S. and stole money and valuables from their bags during secondary searches.

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Prosecutors said Michael Arato and the subordinate, who was not named, targeted foreigners leaving the U.S. and stole money and valuables from their bags during secondary searches.

A Transportation Security Administration officer pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars in cash and other valuables from unsuspecting travelers, mostly non-English speakers, during security screenings at Newark airport.

Michael Arato, 41, also admitted on Monday to taking kickbacks from a subordinate officer, who stole between $10,000 and $30,000 over the course of a year while Arato agreed to look the other way. 

The crooked TSA supervisor was busted last fall after the subordinate, who was not named, worked with authorities to videotape him taking his cut during a three-week period, from Sept. 13 to Oct. 5, authorities said.

Arato also admitted stealing from passengers at his own checkpoint at Newark airport's Terminal B.

Prosecutors said the two agents often targeted foreigners and subjected them to additional screening, during which time they would pocket cash found in their carry-on bags.

According to prosecutor Paul Fishman, the supervisor pocketed between $400 and $700 from passengers on a given shift. He also accepted about $3,100 in bribes during the three-week period he was being observed.

The two agents often stashed stolen cash in the drawers of x-ray machines at the checkpoints or hid it the lost and found before retrieving it later, prosecutors said. 

Arato was caught on tape explaining his action by saying that the travelers were leaving the country with "our money," ABC reported. 

In one video recording, Arato was seen taking his cut and then giving "the middle finger to the office security camera," according to the complaint.

"Arato literally made a game of stealing hundreds of dollars a day from individuals standing in the security lane," Fishman said in a statement after Arato was busted. "That he targeted them based on their inability to speak English is especially offensive."

According to the original complaint, authorities became suspicious after receiving several complaints from passengers on Air India's daily nonstop flight to India that money and valuables from their carry-on bags had gone missing after TSA employees at Arato's checkpoint had searched them by hand.

The victims were mostly women of Indian decent who did not speak English, the complaint said.

Arato faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced on May 24.

With News Wire Services



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/02/15/2011-02-15_tsa_agent_michael_arato_pleads_guilty_to_stealing_from_passengers_taking_bribes_.html#ixzz1E9HnTBTg

Entry #3,942

Girl, 13, crashes into police car after fight with mom

Girl, 13, crashes into police car after fight with mom

 

8:42 AM, Feb. 16, 2011   

John Tuohy

Indy Star 

 

A 13-year-old squabbling with her mother commandeered the family car and crashed it into a police car before being taken into custody last night on the Eastside.

Indianapolis Metropolitan police said they were called to a home in the 2400 block of Morningstar Drive to break up a disturbance between a mother and daughter. Before they arrived a second call came over the police radio, saying the daughter was driving her mom's Toyota Corolla back and forth along on Morningstar.

When Officer Jerry Torres arrived, the girl backed into Torre's squad car, according to an IMPD report.

Other police cars pinned the Toyota in and Torres broke the driver's side window to apprehend the girl.

Entry #3,941

Attacking Sarah Palin: Who's doing it and why

2:12 PM ET, 02/15/2011

Attacking Palin: Who's doing it and why

Chris Cillizza
Washington Post 



Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Photo by ROBYN BECK /AFP/Getty Images

 

After months of radio silence about the prospect of Sarah Palin running for president in 2012, a few of her potential rivals have begun to delicately jab at her, previewing what would almost certainly be a far more aggressive attack if she did decide to enter the race.

Last week, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum by postulating in an online radio interview that Palin might be skipping the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) because "she has some demands on her time, and a lot of them have financial benefit attached to them." He added that Palin also has considerable responsibilities as a mother of five children. started a controversy

While  Santorum insisted that he was only saying Palin was busy and did not in any way mean to slight her, the former Alaska governor clearly took umbrage.

Palin said she would not call Santorum the "knuckle-dragging Neanderthal", adding "I'll let his wife call him that instead." Zing!

Then came South Dakota Sen. John Thune's speech at CPAC in which he uttered the line: "The closest I've come to being on a reality TV show is C-SPAN's live coverage of the Senate floor."

While he never mentioned Palin's name, the audience "oohed" as soon as Thune mentioned a reality TV show -- a clear indication that they knew exactly who and what he was talking about.

For both Santorum and Thune, going after Palin -- whether intentionally, unintentionally or a somewhere in between -- is a smart political strategy.

It's the political equivalent of punching up; anytime a lesser known candidate takes a swing at a better known candidate -- and that better known candidate responds -- it's a victory for the little guy.

It's why long-shot challengers always call for debate against incumbents -- and why incumbents almost never agree to them.

But, Palin's demonstrated willingness to engage almost anyone -- literally -- who speaks ill of her virtually ensures that other lesser known candidates looking to make a name for themselves in the 2012 field will follow the Santorum/Thune route in the very near future.

It's a win-win situation for second and third tier candidates. Anything Palin-related draws a scrum of reporters (although, notably, not Dana Milbank) and those reporters inevitably write stories with a "Santorum vs Palin" or "Thune vs Palin" narrative -- a great dynamic for longer-shot candidates.

The real question moving forward is whether -- and how -- bigger name candidates like former Govs. Mitt Romney (Mass.) and Mike Huckabee (Ark.) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) follow the lead of Santorum and Thune.

To date, each of those candidates have tread very carefully around Palin.

Romney recently praised her as "an extraordinarily powerful and effective voice in our party".

Gingrich called her a "formidable person in her own right" although cautioning Palin to "slow down" when it comes to her public pronouncements.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Palin was "a heck of a lot smarter than she gets credit for."

The closest any of the major candidates has come to going negative on Palin is when Pawlenty said on "Good Morning America" that "it wouldn't have been my style" to put crosshairs on a 2010 election map as Palin's Sarah PAC did. (Some Democrats blamed Palin's "crosshairs map" for playing a role in the attempted assassination of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.) But, that's a pretty tame line of attack -- if it can even be considered a line of attack at all.

So, why haven't we seen more criticism of Palin from her bigger-name rivals?

One reason may be that they have made a calculation that it makes little sense to go after Palin -- and risk alienating her loyal supporters -- before she is even in the race.

The nightmare scenario for top-tier candidates is that they attack Palin, the attack turns her voters against them and then she doesn't run. The result? They look petty and have angered an element of the party they will need to win the nomination.

Rather than risk it, the top-tier candidates appear to be playing as nice as possible with Palin for as long as possible.

Of course, if she gets in the race, that calculation could well change. While people like Romney, Barbour and Daniels would likely be content to let people like Santorum go on a political kamikaze mission against Palin, it's hard to imagine that all of them could avoid engaging with her during the primary process.

Another reason for the lack of direct engagement at the moment could be that Palin is not regarded by some of these people as a major threat for the nomination even if she did run.

As Politico's Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin noted in a smart story Monday, Palin is not performing as a frontrunner would be expected to in early primary and caucus states -- suggesting she may not be nearly as formidable as she is made out to be.

Regardless of whether or not she runs, however, Palin will have an influence on the nomination fight by dint of her fame and the subsequent throw weight of her pronouncements via Facebook and Twitter.

Most of the top-tier candidates are eyeing her warily at the moment, waiting to see what she's up to before deciding the best way to approach her.

In the meantime, look for lesser known candidates to try and make their name by going at Palin. Will she engage them? Or ignore them?

Entry #3,940

Boy, 9, sickened by vodka shots

Teen may get probation in case of 9-year-old sickened by vodka

Jessica Fender
The Denver Post

Posted: 02/16/2011 01:00:00 AM MST

Updated: 02/16/2011 01:16:21 AM MST


     

Tyrale Haselrig- Graham    

A teenager accused of giving a 9-year-old vodka shots until the boy had to be taken to a hospital could get probation as part of an ongoing deal with the Denver district attorney's office.

Tyrale Haselrig-Graham, 18, and a buddy were drinking at the victim's home on New Year's Eve and got the child dangerously drunk while his mother was away, authorities say.

Haselrig-Graham originally faced charges of child abuse causing serious bodily injury and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Class 3 and Class 4 felonies, respectively. The second teen, Skyler Dematteo, also 18, still faces those charges.

But at a Tuesday court appearance, Haselrig-Graham's public defender noted that under the deal, he could instead

Skyler Dematteo face a charge of negligent child abuse, which could get him probation.

 

Haselrig-Graham's mother and sister and two of his high school teachers sat nearby in support of the 18-year-old, who remains in custody.

The incident happened at the apartment of Dematteo's neighbor, where three children, including the victim, lived, according to Dematteo's mother.

Naomi Dematteo didn't know why her son was there that night, but she said he didn't participate in giving alcohol to the child.

Dematteo, father of a 2-year-old, made his high school's honor roll last year and was on track to graduate this year until the arrest, she said.

He's still awaiting a publicly funded lawyer for a preliminary hearing this month.

"It's a shame," Naomi Dematteo said. "I don't know who was supposed to be watching those kids. I just don't think he deserves all this."



Read more: Teen may get probation in case of 9-year-old sickened by vodka - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17398025#ixzz1E7Evw6am
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Entry #3,938

Woman, 61, gives birth to own grandchild

Woman, 61, gives birth to own grandchild

Her daughter had tried for years to have a baby

 

A grandmother's gift

Sara Connell, left, holds her new baby Finnean Lee Connell, on Thursday at Prentice Womens Hospital in Chicago. Saras

 

Deborah L. Shelton

Tribune reporter

11:22 p.m. CST

February 11, 2011

 

Almost 39 weeks ago, Kristine Casey set out on an unusual journey to help her daughter and answer a spiritual calling.

Her goal was achieved late Wednesday when she gave birth to her own grandson at age 61.

Casey, possibly the oldest woman to give birth in Illinois, served as a surrogate for her daughter, Sara Connell, who had been trying for years to have a baby. Connell and her husband, Bill, are the biological parents of the child Casey carried, which grew from an embryo created from the Chicago couple's egg and sperm.

Crying and praying, Connell and her mother held hands as Finnean Lee Connell was delivered by cesarean section at 9:47 p.m.

When the baby let out a cry, "I lost it," said Sara Connell, the first family member to hold him. "It's such a miracle."

The doctor who delivered Finnean said there wasn't a dry eye in the crowded operating room.

"The surgery itself was uncomplicated, and the emotional context of this delivery was so profound," said Dr. Susan Gerber, obstetrician and maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Childbirth remains a rare event for post-menopausal women, but the number of such births has risen in recent years due to wider use of in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies. According to state health department records, the oldest woman to give birth in Illinois was 58 when she had her baby in 2006. But data on births after 2008 are not yet available.

Older women face greater risks during pregnancy and delivery, and experts say many women would not be good candidates.

"It's going to be more risky for somebody who's got underlying conditions," said Dr. Alan Peaceman, chief of maternal-fetal medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, one of Casey's doctors. "Because of that, we recommend that patients have a cardiac evaluation."

The Connells decided in 2004 to try to have a baby, but Sara, now 35, soon discovered she wasn't ovulating. After undergoing infertility treatment at the Reproductive Medicine Institute in Evanston, she got pregnant but delivered stillborn twins, and later she suffered a miscarriage.

Casey's previous three pregnancies  her last was 30 years ago  went smoothly, resulting in three daughters. After Casey retired in 2007, she filled her time walking, meditating, taking classes and socializing with friends. But she felt she had a deeper calling.

"At the beginning of 2009," she said, "I decided for once in my life to take some time to think about my life and find something that seemed right for me  where there was no pressure to do a specific thing."

During a visit to Chicago  she lives in Virginia  Casey participated in a workshop led by Connell, a life coach, writer and lecturer on women's empowerment. In one class exercise, she used pictures cut from a magazine to create a collage depicting a life's goal. One picture grabbed her attention: an ostrich with an expression of wonder and joy.

Casey wanted to experience the exuberance captured in the picture.

Around the same time, a walking partner mentioned a story she had read about a post-menopausal woman who gave birth.

"I thought, 'Wow, three of the happiest days of my life were giving birth to my daughters,' and I thought I could choose to do this for someone I love," Casey said.

Casey later wrote a letter to the Connells offering to be Sara's surrogate.

"I found something that would make me feel like that ostrich," she wrote. "What do you think of this?"

She suggested that they forget about it if they found the idea repulsive.

"I won't do this just to make me happy because, believe me, I could find other things to do," she remembers writing, laughing at the recollection. At the time, she was 10 years past menopause.

Several months later, the family discussed the idea with experts at the Reproductive Medicine Institute, where they had sought help six years earlier. The couple said they had considered adoption but preferred to have a biological child.

"The idea of having a family member being open to doing this for us was so extraordinary for us," Sara Connell said.

Bill Connell said he appreciated his mother-in-law's offer, though he didn't think it was doable at first. Any further reservations evaporated when he saw she was serious, he added.

"I just wanted to make sure the science was there," he said. "I didn't want us to subject ourselves to another very risky, possibly devastating, scenario. Infertility is one thing, but putting your mother-in-law in danger kicks it up to another level altogether."

At first, Casey's husband also wondered if it was even possible for his wife to have a baby in her 60s. Then he worried that a pregnancy could jeopardize her health or even her life. But he set aside most of his concerns after she cleared medical tests and doctors gave a thumbs-up.

"What made the difference for me was when Kris said it was a calling from deep within herself," Bill Casey said. "You can't get any more compelling than that."

Casey underwent multiple tests to evaluate her medical and psychological health, as required by Illinois law on surrogate births. The family also drew up a mandatory legal agreement.

The risks of genetic abnormalities were low because Connell's egg would be the one fertilized. But if any such issues were detected later, Casey said she and the Connells agreed that she would carry the baby to term regardless.

Then she took hormones to prepare her uterus for pregnancy. She got pregnant on the second cycle of in vitro fertilization with an embryo transfer.

"If you give the uterus hormones, it will act like a young uterus," said Dr. Carolyn Coulam, a reproductive endocrinologist at Reproductive Medicine Institute. Coulam's oldest patient was in her late 60s at the time she had a baby. She lived in another state.

"It usually is a function of the age of the egg, not the uterus, whether or not the pregnancy will be successful," Coulam said.

Still, some fertility programs have age limits for gestational surrogates. At the University of Chicago Medical Center the upper limit is 55, said Dr. David Cohen, chief of reproductive medicine.

"The issue comes up because as a woman gets older, the risks she takes in pregnancy clearly go up  everything from high blood pressure and diabetes to premature delivery and infant death," Cohen said. "So one has to be clear about what those risks are."

The medical center evaluates cases involving older surrogates in an ethics consultation.

"It's not written in stone," Cohen said. "One is left with deciding each case individually, and those decisions are made after a very serious discussion with everybody involved. I personally would not throw stones at somebody who decided to go ahead in this situation as long as she clearly understood her risks."

Peaceman described Casey's health as excellent throughout her pregnancy, but he emphasized: "It takes a significant commitment to be a surrogate in any circumstance. To take on this type of physical burden at this age is not anything anybody should take lightly."

After her C-section, Casey had a complication with her kidneys.

"After delivery, her urine output was lower than we expected and there was no discernible cause," Gerber said. "We wanted to be extra careful, given her age, so we gave her close attention. With relatively little intervention, it turned around."

Josephine Johnston, a research scholar at the Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute, had no ethical objections to the idea of a 61-year-old having a baby, as long as she had undergone a thorough medical and psychological evaluation.

"It seems like an unquestionably loving and generous thing for a family member to do," she said.

"It's a great story to tell the child," Johnston added. "It's one of those situations where outsiders might wonder if it's OK or healthy. But the experience of that child and his family will be that it's good.  If they treat it as good, it will be experienced that way."

Casey, who has a quick wit and laid-back manner, plans to return to her Virginia home with her husband in about two weeks, where she is ready to adopt a more conventional grandmother role. Finnean is her first grandchild.

"From the very beginning, the moment I've wanted is the moment the baby is in their arms," she said at her daughter and son-in-law's home weeks before the birth. "I've been clear since after my third child that I didn't need to have any more children, and as much as I will be delighted to be a grandmother, I don't want to take a baby home."

Sara Connell said she was grateful for her mother's loving, generous spirit and what she called "her special gift."

"It grew beyond the two of us having a child," Connell said. "It was about the closeness with my mother, and our family having this experience that was unique and special."
Entry #3,937

Conservative blogger posts cartoon of fat First Lady mocking her anti-obesity campaign

Andrew Breitbart website posts cartoon of fat First Lady mocking her anti-obesity campaign

 

 

Aliyah Shahid
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

 

Originally Published:Tuesday, February 15th 2011, 11:54 AM
Updated: Tuesday, February 15th 2011, 1:25 PM

The cartoon depicting a plump First Lady was published over the weekend.

BigGovernment.com

The cartoon depicting a plump First Lady was published over the weekend.

 

Andrew Breitbart, at it again?

The conservative blogger  who is at the center of a lawsuit over a video his site posted depicting a government official as racist  now has a cartoon on his Big Government site portraying First Lady Michelle Obama as a plump, hamburger-scarfing glutton.

In the cartoon, posted over the weekend, the First Lady is sitting at a dinner table with President Obama.

"I've stepped up my efforts to control America's eating habits by telling restaurants to lower portion sizes and fat content," a double-chinned Michelle Obama says, referring to her anti-obesity campaign, which celebrated its one-year anniversary last week.

The President, pictured with huge ears and sitting next to her in front of a tiny plate of vegetables, responds, "Michelle, I want to get reelected. What you're doing is only going to annoy a lot of people."

The First Lady responds, "Shut up and pass the bacon!"

Breitbart told the Daily News that he "can't speak to anything that's going on right now" because he's been traveling and has been ill. He referred all questions to Big Government Editor Michael Flynn.

Shirley Sherrod, the former Department of Agriculture employee who was forced to call it quits last year, filed a lawsuit against Breitbart on Friday. She alleges the blogger posted a misleading video that damaged her reputation.

"Whether or not one finds the cartoon funny is certainly subject to debate," Flynn wrote in an email.  "But I can't really see how this is controversial to any but those with the frailest disposition."



"Michelle Obama's work on nutrition issues has gone beyond the normal First Lady advocacy into the realm of shaping national policy, so, on this issue, I think she is fair game for criticism," Flynn added.

"If there's a 'joke' in there, I'm missing it," Simon Maloy of Media Matters wrote. "This is the sort of stuff most of us left at the grade school playground."

The cartoonists James Hudnall and Batton Lash, who collaborate on a political cartoon every week for BigGovernment.com, defended their work.

"We find the 'do as I say, not as I do' approach of the Obamas hypocritical and ripe for ridicule. The First Lady seeks to enforce healthy eating on the nation, while indulging on snacks in public appearances," said Lash, pointing to the recent White House Superbowl menu, which included deep-dish pizza and buffalo wings.

"The true measure of success of any political cartoon is how it effects the other side in the argument," Hudnall added. "Apparently, this one was a home run."



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/02/15/2011-02-15_anrew_breitbart_website_posts_cartoon_of_fat_first_lady_mocking_her_antiobesity_.html#ixzz1E4RnMdv3

Entry #3,936
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