Karen Ross ~ The new parents, both rabbis, have dark circles under their eyes. Instead of davening with prayer shawl, at each sunrise, they are drowned in diapers and breast milk. Or maybe the drowning in diapers and breast milk is the prayer. Their newborn was created in a lab, with life cells engineered by white-coated scientists. The miracle baby is named for the angel, Gabriel.
Marianne Lonsdale “What’s going to happen to Catie when she grows up?” I was driving with my son, Nick, to the store when he asked this about his fifteen-year-old cousin, Catie. Nick, age eight, had just spent his spring break at Catie’s home. Blind, she was now losing her ability to talk, but she always recognized Nick’s voice. She adored having him by her side; whenever Nick walked into the room, her face lit up, and she raised her arms for hugs. She was the closest Nick was going to get to having a sibling. “Will she get a job?” he piped up from the backseat. “Or will someone still have to take care of her?” Small for his age, Nick was just about big
David Goldblatt Movement disorders can be horrifying. Afflicted persons are solidified or contorted. They may flail so violently that a fork endangers their lives. As a beginning neurologist, I assumed that all such patients curse their fate. Once I got to know Brian, though, I realized that I could be wrong. Brian and one of his brothers had inherited Wilson’s disease, a rare, genetic movement disorder that had spared their eight siblings. People who have Wilson’s disease can’t handle dietary copper properly. It accumulates in–and poisons–the kidneys, liver and brain. Avoiding foods rich in copper does not halt the progression of the disease, but it helps. If patients are also treated early and consistently with a drug such as penicillamine, which binds copper and aids
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