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EMILY ERNST: Donate Plasma This Month
The College Dems are dominating the Michigan Daily. This time it’s a great viewpoint from FreshDem Emily Ernst. Here’s what she had to say about PIDD:
April is Primary Immune Deficiency Awareness month. Primary Immune Deficiency Diseases are genetic disorders that cause some part of the immune system to function incorrectly, leaving people with these conditions extremely susceptible to illness. I am one of approximately 250,000 Americans diagnosed with one of these disorders.
PIDDs are life threatening when left untreated. For most people with the disease, a simple cold can turn into a severe sinus infection or pneumonia. The longer a person lives without being diagnosed, the greater the chances that the individual will die or suffer severe medical problems. People who live long enough to be diagnosed are put on a treatment called Immune Globulin therapy (IgG), which I have been receiving since I was three years old.
IgG is made out of human plasma, a blood component separated from the red and white blood cells. The body fights off diseases using many of the proteins found in plasma and, by taking regular injections of medications derived from plasma, those with the disorder are able to fight off diseases. Without this medicine, we would be almost constantly sick. My doctors determined I had an immune deficiency after I had contracted pneumonia three separate times by age three and had monthly sinus infections that I couldn’t get rid of without antibiotics and steroids.
Immune deficients aren’t the only people who benefit from plasma. The medications are also used to treat hemophilia, pediatric HIV, hepatitis, genetic lung disorders and, occasionally, animal bites. Even though so many different diseases are treated with plasma, people do not donate as much as they could. When plasma collection centers can’t collect enough, it causes extreme shortages of the medications, and people who have any of the previously mentioned conditions are unable to get the medicine they need to lead a normal life. During the last plasma shortage in the late 1990s, people I know were unable to get their IgG for extended periods of time and started to get sick frequently. I still received my medication throughout the entire shortage because I was given priority as a minor, but many others weren’t as lucky.
In recognition of Primary Immune Deficiency Awareness month, I would like to ask everyone to consider donating plasma. The nearest donation center is in Ypsilanti, but I encourage students to find donation centers in their hometowns. To find the donation center closest to you, go to www.donatingplasma.org. The website also gives additional information on the uses of plasma and the donation process.
I strongly encourage all of you to donate. You may be saving someone’s life, and you could grant a healthy, normal lifestyle to someone who wouldn’t have one otherwise. Plasma is an enormous gift that recipients are extremely thankful for. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of the current plasma donors, and I hope many of you consider donating in the future.
Emily Ernst
LSA Freshman
No more Daily Dailies? Who cares. We are taking over the Daily itself!!!
Posted in Blog, Daily Daily, Mark Chou's Take
Tagged april, Daily, Daily Daily, emily, emily ernst, ernst, freshdem, Mark Chou, Mark Chou's Take, Michigan Daily, month, opinion, pidd, plasma, viewpoint
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Kaitlin Henry: Environmentally Destructive Habits Are NOT Something to Celebrate
- As you can see, Kaitlin loves the environment. Well, mainly leaves.
Our very own Kaitlin Henry wrote a great letter to the editor that appeared in today’s Michigan Daily. Here’s the full letter:
Victoria Miller’s letter to the editor regarding Earth Hour (Earth Hour exemplifies anti-progressive principles, 03/27/2009) was a disturbing example of a prideful attitude toward overconsumption. While the author should receive credit for putting her blatant selfishness up for the entire University to read, it is terrifying to imagine that her voice represents the opinions of many.
The suggestion that making personal energy sacrifices is somehow backtracking, “sacrificing humanity†or disrespecting the ingenuity of past inventors is absolutely absurd. Nobody denies the importance of their discoveries, but that does not make them appropriate for a sustainable future. In fact, it’s precisely that type of innovation that should inspire us to find every possible way to reduce our carbon footprints. Such a viewpoint does not demonstrate appreciation for modern technology but instead demonstrates the danger of ignorant and foolish pride. Environmentally destructive habits are not something to celebrate.
Kaitlin Henry
LSA freshman
Nice letter, Kaitlin. You’ve made us proud! For the article link, click here.
Posted in Blog, Environment
Tagged Chou, Daily, earth hour, Environment, Henry, kaitlin, kaitlin henry, Mark, Mark Chou, michigan, Michigan Daily
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Daily Daily for Today
Here is your Daily Daily for today:
1. Michigan Basketball beat Duke on Saturday. My god did we need this. After football season and basketball season last year, it wasn’t the best. The UCLA win was a start, but this was Duke. Also, if you look hard at that front page picture, you can see me and Scott in the middle of the court. I’m the one wearing maize.
2. Michigan’s endowment fell 20-30 percent with the recent crapping of itself that the market is still in the middle of. The bigger thing from this story is how damned large Harvard’s endowment is. They were/are the 10th biggest charity in America in amount received per year. I’m not normally one to make Communist arguments about seizing assets and sharing the wealth, but yeah, um, yeah.
3. Even though the state passed Prop 1 in November, patients who need medical marijuana will have to wait months until they can get permits to grow it. My god, it’s like legalizing something, while making the act of getting it illegal will cause complications that will hurt sick people. It’s almost like our current drug policies are dumb and unsustainable. (more…)
Posted in Blog, Daily Daily
Tagged basketball, Daily, Endowment, Marijuana, Medical, michigan, Weed
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Daily Daily for Today
1. Michigan Basketball had a glorious victory against Savannah State 66-64 in Overtime. This game was absurd. We were down 39-19 at the half, but fought back and missed a dunk at the end of regulation that could have won the game for us. It took a buzzer beater by DeShawn Sims to win the game. My point: GO TO BASKETBALL GAMES. We play Duke on Saturday. Check out the blog for fine reasoned analysis about their program and moral character. (more…)
Daily Daily for your Daily Pleasure
Here you all go for today:
1. Apparently we lost to State. At least our campus doesn’t smell like crap when the wind is blowing the wrong way. On a side note, it’s been depressing this year to do the Monday Daily Dailies because the top story is always another Michigan football triumph. It’s a rebuilding year, it’s a rebuilding year, it’s a rebuilding year.
2. An Obama campaign office opened up by campus. The front page picture looks like Nathaniel’s head is coming out of Liz Brater’s shoulder. Apparently the walls were covered with Brillo Pads and pennies before we started cleaning. It really was that gross. All of you should go down to go see and volunteer.
3. Rich Rod signed a 15M, 6 year contract with us. How much is the buyout? Rimshot. Oh god, I’m not actually funny. (more…)
Daily Daily and National Roundup
Lets get this over with shall we.
1) Minority enrollment has experienced its first drop since the end of affirmative action, but it seems all that whining about it being so dramatic is bullshit. We actually have a higher enrollment of African American students. But I am not saying there wasn’t a drop it just wasn’t that big compared to other schools. Another funny thing to point out is that by looking at the bar graph it seems UCLA and Berkeley experienced a bigger drop in minority enrollment they still had more minorities than we did with affirmative action. So it seems no matter what we are still racists. (more…)