June 16, 2005 - Caroline Miller celebrated her 17th birthday yesterday, but instead of receiving presents, she gave the gift of life.
She donated a pint of blood at the Central Kentucky Blood Center, a non-profit organization that has been providing blood to patients in Eastern and Central Kentucky since 1968.
"It something most people can do, it's easy and it's important," Caroline said. "It's something that makes a difference."
Caroline herself was a beneficiary of a blood donation. She was diagnosed with a severe case of aplastic anemia in 1995, a disease resulting from the inability of bone marrow to make enough healthy blood cells.
"She was very, very sick," Caroline's mother, Hilary, said. "Only 10 percent of her bone marrow was working."
Caroline received a bone marrow transplant from her little brother shortly after she was diagnosed. The procedure was successful, which Hilary Miller attributes to the blood transfusions Caroline received before and after the operation.
"If she hadn't gotten those, she would have never made it to the transplant," she said.
Caroline has been completely healthy and waiting to give back ever since. A blood donor has to be at least 17 years old, so she had to wait 10 years. However, her parents have become regular donors, and her father, George, is on the board of directors for the CKBC.
Dan Dickson, the communications director for the blood center, wishes there were more families like the Millers. He said the summer is always a very slow time for blood donation. Dickson said the center is encouraging first-time donors to give blood.
The summer is "a very nervous time, a very critical time," Dickson said. "It's a time when people are very busy with summertime activities and vacations. They get busy and they sometimes forget about giving blood."
For more information on blood donation, call the CKBC at (859) 276-2534.
Miller celebrated her 17th birthday accomplishing a decade-old dream of making her first blood donation at the Central Kentucky Blood Center (CKBC) on June 15, 2005 in Lexington, Ky. Miller received a life-saving bone marrow transplant at age 7 when she was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. CKBC required that donors be at least 17 years old to donate. In the foreground was Miller's youth pastor Holly Fuqua, who joined her in donating.
Amber's spirit
When Amber Wakefield, 16, was serenaded with the song, "My Girl," during the 2004 Chargers blood drive, it was one of those special moments her mom will cherish forever. Amber, a Rancho Bernardo High student, was diagnosed in 2002 with aplastic anemia and regularly underwent blood transfusions. For the past three Novembers, Amber showed up at the all-day Chargers drive at the Town and Country Convention Center to thank blood donors and share her story.
When her mom received the invitation to today's event, she called the San Diego Blood Bank to report that Amber won't be there this year – she died Nov. 5.
"The Chargers really made Amber feel special," says Margaret Wakefield. "She felt like she was contributing something important to the community." At about 5:15 p.m. today, the Chargers band will again play "My Girl" – this time in Amber's memory.
Benzene in Some Soft Drinks Prompts Call for Halt on Sales in Schools
WASHINGTON - March 23 - In response to recent findings by scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and elsewhere that certain soft drinks may contain amounts of the carcinogen benzene above the U.S. legal limit for drinking water, Commercial Alert and public health advocates sent letters today to all U.S. chief state school officers, asking them to stop the sale and marketing of these soft drinks in public schools, until they can be proven safe and free from benzene contamination.
The letter was written and organized by Commercial Alert, a nonprofit organization that protects children and communities from commercialism. The letter follows.
Dear Chief State School Officer:
As you may know, scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and elsewhere have found that some soft drinks sold commonly in the U.S. contain concentrations of benzene above the U.S. legal limit for drinking water.
Benzene is classified as a known human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Chronic exposure to benzene is associated with leukemia, aplastic anemia and other blood diseases. Children may be especially sensitive to benzene because their bone marrow cells are highly active.
Accordingly, we urge you and local school officials to cease the sale and marketing of certain soft drinks in public schools until they are shown to be safe and free of the toxic substance benzene.
Soft drink manufacturers are not adding benzene to the drinks directly. Rather, the compound is formed by a reaction of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and sodium or potassium benzoate (which are used as preservatives) -- especially in the presence of light or heat. Soft drinks that contain ascorbic acid and sodium or potassium benzoate include Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry, Fanta Orange, Hawaiian Punch, Mug Root Beer, Pepsi Vanilla, Sierra Mist, Sunkist and Tropicana Lemonade, among others.
The evidence of benzene contamination of soft drinks is coming from many quarters, and it is mounting. On February 15th, Beverage Daily reported that recent tests had shown that some soft drinks contain benzene at levels “above the legal limit for water set by the US and Europe.” According to Beverage Daily, independent tests at a laboratory in New York found benzene levels in a couple of soft drinks contain two-and-a-half and five times the World Health Organization limit for drinking water, which is more permissive than is the U.S. standard.
Then, on March 4th, the Times of London reported that just 100 of the 230 soft drinks tested for benzene met the standard for British water, “with some containing up to eight times the legal limit.”
Of course, benzene exposure is not the only way that soft drinks can harm children’s health. In addition, there is substantial evidence that sugar-sweetened drinks are contributing to the epidemics of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes.
It is irresponsible to provide to schoolchildren products that are unhealthy and may contain a carcinogen. Please, halt the sale and marketing of soft drinks that contain ascorbic acid and sodium or potassium benzoate, until you can look parents in the eye and assure them that their children will suffer no harm.
Sincerely,
Claire L. Barnett, Executive Director, Healthy Schools Network, Inc. Leon Eisenberg, MD, Professor of Social Medicine Emeritus, Harvard Medical School Michael F. Jacobson, PhD, Executive Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest Carden Johnston, MD, FAAP, FRCP, Past President, American Academy of Pediatrics David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, Director, Yale Prevention Research Center David Ozonoff, MD, MPH, Professor of Environmental Health; Chair Emeritus, Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health Kenneth Rosenman, MD, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Michigan State University Gary Ruskin, Executive Director, Commercial Alert Vic Strasburger, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico School of Medicine
<----letter ends here---->
In 1990, the National Soft Drink Association told the FDA about the problem of benzene contamination in soft drinks. The FDA did some testing of benzene levels, but did not make its findings public.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set its limit on benzene in drinking water at 5 parts per billion (ppb). In its “consumer factsheet” on benzene, the EPA states that “EPA has found benzene to potentially cause the following health effects when people are exposed to it at levels above the MCL [Maximum Contaminant Level – for benzene, 5 ppb] for relatively short periods of time: temporary nervous system disorders, immune system depression, anemia.”
Commercial Alert is a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon. Our mission is to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy.
For more information about soft drinks in schools, and benzene contamination, see: http://www.commercialalert.org/issues-landing.php?subcategory_id=34&category=2
A list of soft drinks containing both ascorbic acid and sodium or potassium benzoate is at http://www.commercialalert.org/softdrinklist.pdf.
For background on benzene contamination of soft drinks, see:
http://www.beveragedaily.com/news/ng.asp?id=65840
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/natio
nworld/2002843123_benzene04.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-2065539,00.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2068834,00.html
http://www.alternet.org/story/33380/
http://www.commercialalert.org/benzenejafc.pdf
