Young cancer survivor becomes top junior golfer

AUG. 5, 2013

12-year-old helps raise money for leukemia research, treatment

BY ROBERT DICKS

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

Leukemia survivor Grace Chen helped establish a nonprofit association that raises money for leukemia research through golf-related activities.

"It's a relief that I can do what other kids do."

Grace Chen, 12, of Sunnyvale, Calif., was discussing how, since recovering from childhood leukemia, she can go to school, hang out with friends, watch TV ? basically have a normal life. Well, mostly normal. There aren't many other girls her age who can hit a golf ball 230 yards.

With 25 trophies scattered around her house, it's obvious that Grace has the whole golf thing down. It's been that way since she was 6 and in recovery from years of treatment for acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, at the Bass Center for Cancer and Childhood Blood Diseases at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

"My wife, Ni, and I wanted her to start doing something that would help her physically and mentally," said Grace's father, Weixing Chen. "Team sports weren't best because of the requirements for physical activity and the possibility of germs spreading between kids. So we figured golf ? with open, fresh air and beautiful settings ? would be right for her, and she could do it at her own pace and get good exercise."

Golf quickly became something more than just exercise. When Grace was just 7, she won five medals in five categories in a national competition. Recently, she made her fifth annual trip to the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship at Pinehurst, N.C. Gary Dahl, MD, a physician at Packard Children's, is not surprised.

"Grace represents a very important trend in leukemia treatments," said Dahl, who also is a professor of pediatric hematology and oncology at the School of Medicine. "In the early 1960s, before chemotherapy was used, only about 3 percent of patients like Grace were long-term survivors. But in the late '60s and through the '70s, we made major inroads in treatment. ALL now has a cure rate of around 90 percent, and other types, such as acute myeloid leukemia, have improved to rates of 65 percent."

Grace's Birdie for ALL team, a group of junior Bay Area golfers, is part of her Gracious Life Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in 2009 to raise awareness of childhood leukemia diseases and research. Birdie for ALL has supporters throughout the Bay Area who donate money for every birdie or better made by Grace and other team members. The group also hosts fundraising activities and holds golf-related events at Packard Children's, Ronald McDonald House at Stanford and Camp Okizu, a camp for children with cancer.

To date, Birdie for ALL has donated more than $6,000 to fund leukemia research and treatment at Stanford. In recognition of her efforts, Grace was named recipient of 2012 Peggy Kirk Bell award at last year's U.S. Kids Golf World Championship. Named after the women's golf pioneer, the award is given to a young golfer who is making a difference in his or her community.

Leukemia, a cancer of the blood that starts in the bone marrow, is the most common childhood cancer. It hit Grace hard at age 2. She was temporarily living in China with her grandparents while her parents, who were working in the Bay Area, flew back and forth. Her symptoms, including joint pain, fever and anemia, were classic. With a confirmed diagnosis, she flew to the Bay Area for treatment and came straight to Packard Children's from the airport.

"Grace couldn't speak English, and she was very frightened," Weixing said. "Once Dr. Dahl laid out the plan, she started receiving chemotherapy and dealing with all the side effects."

For Grace, the treatments and diagnostics could be unpleasant, especially the painful bone marrow aspirations to check the status of her blood cells. "I can't remember too much," said Grace, "but I remember the therapy, including the shots and then the ice cream afterward. I'm just really thankful to now be healthy."

With personal heroes like gold stars Yani Tseng and Phil Mickelson, is Grace envisioning a pro career? "I hope to play in high school, and my college dream is to go to Stanford, Princeton, Harvard or UCLA," Grace said. "For now, I think I want to wait and see how things go, but I do know one thing. I feel like golf has played a large role in helping me recover."

For more information about Grace Chen and the Gracious Life Foundation, visit http://www.birdieforall.org.

---

Robert Dicks is the senior media relations director for Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsFromStanfordsSchoolOfMedicine/~3/6xoHmhekFc8/golf-0805.html

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Speedier scans reveal new distinctions in resting and active brain

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A boost in the speed of brain scans is unveiling new insights into how brain regions work with each other in cooperative groups called networks.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/sdLphuRjWgM/130801180444.htm

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Personal finance: Detroit bankruptcy a cautionary tale for municipal ...

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When Detroit became the largest North American city to file for bankruptcy, leaving the pension plan of city workers in limbo, many municipal government workers in other cities began wondering about the security of their retirement pensions and benefits.

View original content here:
Personal finance: Detroit bankruptcy a cautionary tale for municipal workers

Source: http://www.edmontonlife.ca/personal-finance-detroit-bankruptcy-a-cautionary-tale-for-municipal-workers/

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Former Ohio captive says she knew she'd escape

CLEVELAND (AP) ? Free and safe, one of three women kidnapped and raped over a decade in a ramshackle home smiled lightly as her tormentor was led out of court in chains, a method he had used to control them.

Michelle Knight, the first of the victims kidnapped after accepting a ride from Ariel Castro, spoke in a soft but determined voice Thursday in front of a judge who followed a plea deal and gave Castro life in prison without parole plus 1,000 years.

"We said we'll all get out alive someday, and we did," Knight said.

"You took 11 years of my life away, and I have got it back," she said in the hushed courtroom. "I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning."

Knight, who spoke just a few feet from Castro in the courtroom, finished her statement and returned to her seat without looking at him. Earlier, he had tried to make eye contact, but deputies quickly stepped into his line of vision.

Knight, 32, belittled Castro's routine of going to church and returning to abuse the women in the darkened Cleveland home, which was equipped with chains, locked doors and windows boarded up from the inside.

"What does God think of you hypocritically going to church each Sunday and then coming home to torture us?" she said. "The death penalty would be the easy way out. You don't deserve that. We want you to spend the rest of your life in prison."

Castro, a 53-year-old former school bus driver, pleaded guilty last week to 937 counts including aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape and assault. A deal struck with prosecutors spared him from a possible death sentence for beating and starving Knight until she miscarried.

Castro apologized to his victims briefly in a rambling, defiant statement before he was sentenced, quibbling with the judge on whether rape is a violent crime. As people in the gallery watched wide-eyed, Castro repeatedly blamed his sex addiction, his former wife and others while claiming most of the sex was consensual and the women he held were never tortured.

"These people are trying to paint me as a monster," he said. "I'm not a monster. I'm sick."

He pointed out that the FBI was once close to him when agents talked with his daughter, who was walking home with victim Gina DeJesus on the day she disappeared.

"The FBI let these girls down when they questioned my daughter," he said. "They failed to question me."

He also said he was never abusive until he met his former wife, who is now dead.

"I am not a violent person," Castro said repeatedly.

Assistant prosecutor Anna Faraglia said Knight's appearance in court showed her resilience.

"She will survive, but she has gone through a lot of physical and emotional pain," Faraglia said.

All three women were willing to testify at trial about their ordeals if needed, she said.

The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. Each had accepted a ride from Castro. They escaped May 6, when Amanda Berry, now 27, broke part of a door to Castro's house in a tough neighborhood and yelled to neighbors for help. Castro was arrested that evening.

The escape electrified Cleveland, where photos of the missing women still hung on utility posts. Elation turned to despair as details of their ordeal emerged.

At the sentencing, prosecutors detailed Castro's repeated sexual assaults and how he chained the women and denied them food or fresh air. They displayed photos that gave a first glimpse inside the rooms where the women lived.

Stuffed animals lined the bed and crayon drawings were taped to the wall where Berry lived with her young daughter, who was fathered by Castro. One of the drawings on a shelf said, "Happy Birthday."

But in the room, the window was boarded shut and door knobs had been removed and replaced with multiple locks. Saucer-size holes in inside doors were meant for circulation.

Another room, shared by Knight and DeJesus, had a portable toilet, a clock radio and several chains.

Prosecutors said the women were chained to a pole in the basement and to a bedroom heater. One woman had a motorcycle helmet placed on her head while chained in the basement; later, when she tried to escape, she had a vacuum cleaner cord wrapped around her neck.

FBI agent Andrew Burke said Castro would occasionally pay his victims after raping them. But he then would require them to pay him if they wanted something special from the store.

Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty said in a court filing that the women kept diaries.

"The entries speak of forced sexual conduct, of being locked in a dark room, of anticipating the next session of abuse, of the dreams of someday escaping and being reunited with family, of being chained to a wall, of being held like a prisoner of war ... of being treated like an animal," the filing said.

Knight was lured into Castro's house with the promise of a puppy for her young son. She said she cried every night and her years in captivity "turned into eternity."

"He tormented me constantly, especially on holidays," Knight said. "Christmas was the most traumatic day because I didn't get to spend it with my son."

She sat quietly as Castro claimed the women lived happy lives with him.

"We had a lot of harmony that went on in that home," Castro said.

Castro called his daughter with Berry a "miracle child" and argued with the judge that he didn't commit a violent crime.

Once Castro finished, Judge Michael Russo thanked Knight for showing "remarkable restraint" during his statement. The judge then dismissed Castro's claims that the women lived happy lives with him.

"I'm not sure there's anyone in America that would agree with you," he said.

None of Castro's relatives was in the courtroom. Berry and DeJesus also stayed away. Instead, their family members read statements on their behalf.

"We stand before you and promise you that our beloved family member thrives," said Sylvia Colon, DeJesus' cousin. "She laughs, swims, dances and, more importantly, she loves and is loved."

Outside court, assistant prosecutor Blaise Thomas responded to Castro's claim of creating a harmonious family life for the women by recounting how Castro cried several days ago when he signed over the deed to his house as part of the plea deal. Castro was sorry to lose the house and mentioned "the many happy memories" he had there with the three women, Thomas said.

"That's how he views the world," she said. "That's how distorted and twisted he is."

The house, a drive-by attraction, has been fenced off and under police guard since the women escaped and will be demolished.

The women have begun emerging from the privacy they had sought after they escaped to freedom.

Berry made a surprise onstage appearance at a rap concert last weekend, and DeJesus made a few televised comments as a privacy fence was being erected around her house.

___

Seewer reported from Toledo. Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-ohio-captive-says-she-knew-shed-escape-063848798.html

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Allied Telesis AT-2972SX Fiber Ethernet Driver 15.6.0.3 for Windows 8

The package provides the installation files for Allied Telesis AT-2972SX Gbps Fiber Ethernet Driver 15.6.0.3.

In order to manually update your driver, follow the steps below (the next steps):

1. Go to Device Manager (right click on My Computer, choose Manage and then find Device Manager in the left panel)
2. Right click on the hardware device you wish to update and choose Update Driver Software
3. Choose to select the location of the new driver manually and browse to the folder where you downloaded the driver

It is highly recommended to always use the most recent driver version available.

Do not forget to check with our site as often as possible in order to stay updated on the latest drivers, software and games.

Try to set a system restore point before installing a device driver. This will help if you installed a wrong driver. Problems can arise when your hardware device is too old or not supported any longer.

Source: http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/NETWORK-CARD/Allied-Telesis/Allied-Telesis-AT-2972SX-Fiber-Ethernet-Driver-15603-for-Windows-8.shtml

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Lifelike cooling for sunbaked windows: Adaptable microfluidic circulatory system could cut air-conditioning costs

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Sun-drenched rooms make for happy residents, but large glass windows also bring higher air-conditioning bills. Now a bioinspired microfluidic circulatory system for windows could save energy and cut cooling costs dramatically -- while letting in just as much sunlight.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/YvazV-TSEUw/130730101748.htm

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Erwin Chemerinsky: The future of marriage equality in California

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Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/court-518823-california-marriage.html

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