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September n. 2013
Tragedy t0 Awareness
ter better treatm ent o f the disease m em bers having to tend to her
by enhancing critical knowledge. mother, even rem oving IV ’s from
be pinpointed to one crucial com ­
Students were tested and fam i­ her ports and witnessing the sym p­
ponent; a lack o f diagnoses.
lies educated and informed after toms become unmanageable. The
Pastor T aylor found out her transform ing her support group fatigue weighed heavy and the
newborn, Ramona, had the dis­ into a full blown organization; pain excruciating. In spite o f the
ease just m onths after her birth. formally known as The Portland traum a, T aN ieshia says she is
One night when Taylor kissed her Sickle Cell Anem ia Foundation, mostly thankful for the 16 loving
child, she realized she had a very
high fever and rushed her to the
hospital. It took all day and many
m edical tests for doctors to d e­
term ine the cause o f R am ona’s
illness was sickle cell. The year
was 1961. The swift detection
helped doctors and Taylor do all
they could to help treat the dis­
ease though she was gravely ill
-TaNieshiaTaylor
and they didn’t know if she’d
survive.
which is now the Sickle Cell A ne­ years that she had with her mother,
Taylor was trained by Dr. R ob­ mia Foundation o f Oregon. From being part .of her care, and learn­
ert Bigley and Dr. Robert Koler, the foundation, she’s been able to ing about the disease.
tw o top geneticists at O regon provide a plethora o f resources to
“I was lucky in a way with it
Health Science U niversity to bet­ people im pacted by the disease. already being known that my mom
ter her understanding o f sickle
D espite her know ledge and had it, but for a lot people they
cell and becom e an expert her­ continued medical care, T aylor’s d o n ’t even know what warning
se lf.
S h e b ro u g h t in to p d a u g h te r c o n tin u e d to su ffe r signs to look for, and th at’s the
H em otologists, such as Dr. Elliot gravely. At the age o f 37, Ram ona problem ,” she says.
Vichinsky o f O akland C hildren’s passed due to com plications from
Patients can benefit from cru­
Hospital and another from D en­ sickle cell anemia.
cial early treatment. Tiffani Moss,
ver, holding sem inars at com m u­
T a y lo r’s now a d u lt g ra n d ­ a recent Portland transplant, be­
nity hospitals to prom ote and fos- daughter, TaN ieshia Taylor, re­ cam e aware early on that she has
c o n t i n u e d f r o m Front
I was lucky in a way with it
already being known that my mom
had it, but for a lot people they don’t
even know what warning signs to
look for, and that’s the problem.
The Pacific Northwest
Regional Council of
Carpenters is hosting a free
C areer Fair w here you can find
out all you need to know about
being a Union Carpenter. You
will have an opportunity to visit
with many industry profession­
als who will be on hand to answ er questions about C arpen­
try, A pprenticeship, and the Construction Industry.
CARPENTRY CRAFTS INCLUDE: Wood Fram ers, Concrete
Forms Work, E x terior/Interior Systems Specialists, Metal
sickle cell anem ia and has been
able to get the medical care she
needs. Because she has high fetal
hemoglobin, she has had few pain­
ful episodes. O ther victims of
sickle cell can work and live som e­
what normal lives.
M oss now works closely with
The Sickle Cell Foundation of
Oregon. At 34, she says her day-
to-day activities go unhindered;
she is even able to work 40 hours
a week at a research facility de­
spite carrying the full blown ver­
sion o f the disease. This is the
other side o f a rare coin.
The significance o f knowing
you have sickle cell goes beyond
ju st personal health. M oss too is a
mother. W hen she and her hus­
band brought their child into the
world recently, she m ade sure to
have her tested imm ediately. The
results were positive.
Knowing some o f the statistics
on passing on the sickle cell traits
to an heir, she urged her husband
to get tested. The C enter for Dis­
ease Control reports that if both
parents are carriers o f the sickle
cell trait, their children are 50
percent more likely to inherit the
genes. He reluctantly got the test
only to find out that he indeed
possessed the sickle cell trait.
“If it w eren’t for our child, he
could have gone on for years not
knowing that he had the disease,”
M oss says.
September marks Sickle Cell
Awareness Month. In honor of the
annual observance, the Sickle Cell
Anemia Foundation o f Oregon is
planninga5K ‘Buddy Walk-a-Thon’
for Saturday, Sept. 28. The Port­
land walk comes as an effort to
increase funding for the various
resources the organization provides
to local sickle cell patients and to
raise the awareness level. The
Foundation also hopes to increase
the am ount o f m em bers on its
board of directors.
Taylor says with 1 in 12 Afri­
can-American carrying the gene
for this disease, she hopes churches
and various organizations will help
fund not only the walk-a-thon but
the Foundation’s long term pro­
grams as it continues to fight the
cycle o f sickle cell.
For m ore inform ation about
sickle cell and the walk, visit
sicklecellanem iaportland.com .
CARPENTER CAREER FAIR
Saturday, September 21, 2013
10 AM - 3 PM
Pacific Northwest Carpenters Institute
4222 NE 158th Ave, Portland, OR 97230
DOOR PRIZES • FOOD • ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN
For more information contact: Michael Burch 503.261.1862 or visit
Stud Fram ers, Piledrivers, Scaffold Erectors, Millwrights,
Shipwrights, M arine C arpenters, Finish C arpenters, Floor
Layers, Trade Show W orkers, and m uch m ore.
www.nwcarpenters.org m >
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